While the bulk of the Cleveland Cavaliers fanbase is still processing the latest trade involving the Cavaliers acquiring Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis in exchange for De'Andre Hunter, Cleveland made another move of note earlier this week.
Albeit minor in comparison, the Cavaliers signed Tristan Enaruna to a two-way contract on Wednesday from their G-League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge, joining Nae'Qwan Tomlin and Emanuel Miller as the team's only players under that style of deal.
Admittedly, Enaruna's future in Cleveland may not involve a ton of time with him on the court, but the move adds wing depth to a room that has been a revolving door of injuries so far this season. Tomlin's recent history of two-way impact for the Cavs suggests a path for Enaruna to make an impact isn't impossible to envision.
Enaruna has a history in a lot of different places
Enaruna came out of high school as a four-star prospect, with his 6'8'' and 200 pound frame looking primed for a future as an NBA wing. He committed to Kansas and played there for two years, but wasn't able to carve out a large role for himself.
As a freshman, he averaged just 2.4 points per game in 10.9 minutes of action, and found himself behind the likes of Devon Dotson, Ochai Agbaji, Marcus Garrett and Christian Braun, among others in the pecking order of guards/wings. It's also important to note that Kansas was ranked first in the AP Poll before the season was cut short due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The next season, Enaruna stuck around in Lawrence with the hope of a more meaningful role in the rotation. However, the fellow returnees of Agbaji, Garrett and Braun as well as the emergence of five-star freshman Bryce Thompson meant that Enaruna got even less minutes than the prior year, this time only averaging 9.4 minutes per contest.
So, after his sophomore season Enaruna transferred to the up-and-coming Iowa State program for the 2021-22 year. While he started in 26 of the 33 games he played in, Enaruna only saw 14.4 minutes per game and fell out of the rotation as the Cyclones advanced into the postseason.
For his final two years of eligibility, Enaruna transferred to a smaller school, Cleveland State, and saw a major uptick in both minutes and production. In 2022-23, he started all 35 games while averaging 15.9 points per game.
The scoring uptick was marked by an increase in usage, and he made his mark by getting downhill and to his spots both at the rim and in the midrange. Enaruna's defense was also impressive, as evidenced by his 4.1 percent block rate. At this point, the largest point for improvement was his 3-point shooting, as he shot an abysmal 18.9 percent from deep on 1.5 attempts per game.
Enaruna's season in 2023-24 was even more impressive, as his scoring jumped to 19.9 points per game, while jumping his assists numbers to 2.7 per game to go with only an 11.7 percent turnover rate. Perhaps most notably, his 3-point numbers saw a distinct improvement.
He not only upped his attempts to 2.5 per game but saw his percentage increase to 32.2 percent. However, likely due to his increased on-ball usage, his defensive numbers took a hit, with his defensive box plus-minus sinking to -0.4.
After exhausting all of his eligibility, Enaruna entered the 2024 NBA Draft but went undrafted. His flaws coming out of the process were very much real, as he had an inconsistent jumper paired with inconsistent defensive output, meaning that he would probably never really find a path as a true 3-and-D NBA wing.
However, his NBA-ready size paired with fluid athleticism was a good starting point. Combine that with being an very competent ball handler and shot creator as well as having some playmaking flashes, and one could start to see the outlines of a guy who could make it in the league.
Last season, Enaruna was signed to the Boston Celtics G-League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, and started in 15 of the 32 games that he appeared in. He averaged 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the field and 28.7 percent from three. While those were solid numbers, they didn't show any significant growth from the profile he showed in college.
Flash forward to these season, and Enaruna has been a revelation for the Charge, at least scoring the ball. He's averaging 20.9 points per game while shooting 59.1 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from 3 (!) on almost five attempts per game. He hasn't shown a ton as a playmaker or impact defender this year, but his shooting and overall scoring has been so good that it almost hasn't mattered.
Enaruna could help the Cavaliers in spot situations
When fully healthy, Cleveland's room of wings is somewhat crowded. Not including Donovan Mitchell, whose minutes will be in no way impacted by Enaruna, the wing group consists of Jaylon Tyson, Max Strus, Sam Merrill, Dean Wade, Keon Ellis and Tyrese Proctor. Currently, however, Strus is injured and Ellis has not yet made his Cavaliers debut.
The departure of Hunter actually would likely help Enaruna, as he was another bigger wing who fits a somewhat similar role. Strus, Merrill, Ellis and Proctor are also different archetypes from Enaruna, so it's unclear how much his role could interchange with theirs. Tyson and Wade's roles in a lineup are likely the ones that Enaruna could fill and both of them are frequently starting games for the Cavs.
Clearly, Enaruna is pretty unlikely be a factor in Cleveland's on-court plans for either the long or the short term, but the team clearly is looking for big wings and he fits that mold. So perhaps in the dog days of the regular season, we could see Enaruna find some route to playing time via either injuries or just different looks that Kenny Atkinson may want to throw out there.