Rumors of NBA expansion are heating up to the point of it feeling like an inevitability. Shams Charania made it perfectly clear in his bombshell report earlier this week that two new teams being added to Seattle and Vegas is very likely to be approved. That has reignited some unpleasant memories for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the process.
The Cavaliers, more than most teams, know what it is like to lose a great player to the expansion draft. Josh Cornelissen reminded everyone of what the fate that haunted Cleveland when the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets joined the NBA. The Cavs lost a then promising young guard by the name of Dell Curry.
Cornelissen wrote, "One of the league's great shooters and an all-time player in Charlotte Hornets history, Curry was on a good Cleveland Cavaliers team in 1988 before the Hornets took him in the 1988 expansion draft."
Cornelissen added that Curry ended up notching 929 3-point makes for his new team, the Hornets, across the next 10 seasons. That production could have been had in Cleveland. The Cavaliers will hope the potential 2028 expansion draft is not as unkind to them.
Cavaliers need preparation to avoid disaster in the 2028 expansion draft
In his second season in the NBA, Curry averaged 10.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 19.0 minutes per game during his 79 appearances with the Cavaliers. The shooting splits included a healthy leap in field goal percentage (42.6 to 45.8) and his 3-point mark (28.3 to 34.6) from his rookie year. Alas, Curry was not protected and the Hornets took him with the second overall pick.
Why this is relevant today would be the similar circumstances the Cavs find themselves in. Two years in plenty of time for some serious roster turnover. However, the Cavaliers are a good and deep team. Those are the squads that can tend to get punished in an expansion draft.
The Cavs currently have enough quality options for the rotation that Kenny Atkinson is having a hard time trimming it down to nine for the postseason. That is how loaded Cleveland is, in terms of depth.
If the expansion draft happened as early as this offseason, the Cavaliers would undoubtedly lose at least one really good player to the draft. Luckily for them, they will get a few years to prepare.
Protections are always limited to a set number. Securing eight guys when the team runs deeper than that will ensure one of the two new franchises gets a pretty talented player. Koby Altman will need to do his best to avoid a Curry-like repeat in a couple of years.