Dec. 15 will be the day marked on all NBA calendars as the unofficial start to trade season in the league. When that moment comes, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have an opportunity to pick up the phone and call one of their division rivals for some assistance.
Bobby Portis re-signed with the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2025 offseason, inking a three-year deal that was worth around $43.6 million. Portis will have his trade restrictions expire on Dec. 15, making him perfectly eligible to be packaged away to any team, should the Bucks desire.
There should be some reason to think a trade between the Cavaliers and Bucks could actually work here. It really becomes a matter of whether everything can fall into place to make it happen.
Bobby Portis would give Cavaliers a much-needed frontcourt upgrade
First things first, the financial hurdle needs to be discussed. As everyone knows, the Cavaliers are over the second apron and that makes any potential trade talks difficult to navigate. Luckily for Koby Altman and the front office, this one is easy to draw up.
Financially, Max Strus' $15.9 million salary for 2025-26 allows the Cavaliers an option to just swap him straight up for Portis' $13.4 million. Cleveland would even save a little bit of money in the short-term by shedding a couple of million from their pocket books.
From there, it is a matter of whether there is enough intrigue on both sides to act on the ready-made trade. For the Cavaliers, there absolutely would be.
The frontcourt in Cleveland is in need of help behind Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Larry Nance Jr. just has not been as impactful as one would hope, and has even seen his minutes dwindle of late. Nae'Qwan Tomlin is quietly emerging as an option, but he remains on a two-way contract, limiting the amount of opportunities that the Cavaliers will have to deploy him.
Portis has been steadily productive for Milwaukee over recent years. The Bucks big man has been in the running for Sixth Man of the Year on multiple occasions, and brings strong versatility up front.
On the flip side of things, Strus is exactly the type of shooter that would thrive around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Capable of doing a lot of the little things that can help a team be great, the Cavaliers marksman theoretically fits like a glove with the Bucks.
The key word of this trade is depth. The idea here is to strengthen it for the Cavaliers. The problem is that losing Portis creates a massive hole up front for the Bucks. If the deal were to get done, Milwaukee would need a contingency plan that involved boosting their own frontcourt from elsewhere.
To a healthy degree, this deal makes a ton of sense for both sides. However, removing it out of a vacuum makes this potential trade one that is reliant on external factors aiding it.