What began as a whisper, traded between Cleveland Cavaliers fans watching Jarrett Allen dominate an opponent's front line for the umpteenth time, is beginning to become a clamor. It's impossible to watch the Cavs' offense shredding yet another team with a spaced-out attack and not think about what is going to happen when Evan Mobley returns.
Unless, of course, he doesn't rejoin the lineup. What if the Cavaliers were to do the unthinkable and trade Evan Mobley? He's still just 22 years old, in his third year in the league, and he is one of the five best defenders in the entire NBA. Yet the pairing of Mobley and Allen strangles Cleveland's offense, and Allen is playing so well it's worth asking if breaking the two up means something other than moving Allen.
What would the Cavaliers need in an Evan Mobley trade?
If the Cavaliers were to even think about trading Evan Mobley, what would they need to get back? That's a difficult question to answer; young stars on the rise just aren't traded, and when they are it's as the centerpiece of a package for a superstar. The Cavs dont' have the draft capital or the nonessential salary to put together a bid for a Top-15 player, and none appear to be on the market anyway.
To figure out the answer to this question, of whether it could possibly be worth it to trade Evan Mobley, the Cavs need to know what they could possible get back in a trade. Here are three potential constructions for a Mobley deal. Would any of these make sense for the Cavaliers? Let's take a closer look.
Trade No 1: Evan Mobley to the Thunder
The night of the NBA Draft each season, teams will make trades that are effectively swapping one prospect for another. When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded up two spots in last June's NBA Draft, they were saying that they thought Cason Wallace would be a better prospect than Dereck Lively II. The Dallas Mavericks made another draft-day trade back in 2018 when they bet that Luka Doncic was a better prospect than Trae Young and made the trade up to get their guy.
After the draft is over, however, prospect-for-prospect trades rarely happen, and they certainly don't happen between young players who are on a star trajectory. Yet if the Cavs are going to trade Evan Mobley they need to get back an extremely talented player, and moving Mobley for another prospect on a rookie contract allows the Cavs to keep the rest of their rotation.
Looking around the league, there is one team that may be able to justify turning a star on the wing into a defensive star in the paint, and it's the Oklahoma City Thunder. Here is what a trade could look like:
For the Thunder, they would be pairing Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren in the frontcourt, a defensive pairing that means the Thunder could play whoever else they wanted to on the perimeter. Mobley and Holmgren would be thin, but in every other way their defensive versatility and elite rim protection would absolutely blank opponents. The Thunder would still have plenty of perimeter players to plug into the wing rotation.
For the Cavaliers they get a sophomore in Jalen Williams who is one of the league's toughest scorers, using his body as a battering ram to shrug off contact and score inside at an elite rate. He's also shooting a scorching 46.6 percent from 3-point range, averaging 18.8 points per game and is the second scoring option on one of the best teams in the league.
Jalen would be a starter at the 3 for the Cavaliers and give them a balanced scoring option with their talented backcourt. Jaylin Williams will keep the name confusion going as he comes along to give the Cavs depth behind Jarrett Allen. Would this balancing of the starting lineup be worth moving on from Mobley?
Trade No. 2: Mobley to the Knicks
While moving Evan Mobley for another prospect on a path to stardom is appealing, it also ignores the fact that the Cavlaiers are in win-now mode right now. Another way to use Evan Mobley in a trade is to build a package around him to go after a veteran forward who can shoot and score. One such option would be getting up shots in the Big Apple.
Julius Randle has blossomed into an All-NBA player in New York but the team has always seemed to be open to including him in a trade for a star. Perhaps instead of using him as matching salary to go after someone like Joel Embiid, instead they use some of their draft picks and Randle to get a budding star and a defensive difference-maker.
The Knicks rebuild their rotation, adding a defensive maestro at the point of attack in Isaac Okoro, a dynamic wing scorer in Caris LeVert and of course the rim-sealing Evan Mobley. Tom Thibodeau loves his traditional centers, and he can either play Mobley at the 4 (a la his current role with the Cavs) or move him to center and trust his backline impact.
The Cavaliers get a lot of assets here, from three first-round picks to a young 3-and-D wing in Quentin Grimes and a prospect center in Jericho Sims. Yet none of it brings much upside; Grimes and Sims have plateaued this year, Randle is not a ceiling-elevating player, and the picks are highly unlikely to land anywhere near the top of the draft. This one is a harder sell.
Trade No. 3: Mobley to New Orleans
What if instead of looking for a team that both needs Evan Mobley and has a star forward to pursue, the Cavaliers built out a deal with a third team to land the right players on each roster? It would allow the Cavaliers to get the star they want while routing Mobley to a third team.
The Utah Jazz have an All-Star forward that the Cavaliers are quite familiar with, but they don't particularly need Evan Mobley given the strong start to his career that Walker Kessler has had. Yet the New Orleans Pelicans need to find a center who can protect the rim and unlock two-way lineups with Zion Williamson at the 4.
Here's how all of that could come together:
The Pelicans get a young stud at center to build around, and defensively he protects Zion and Brandon Ingram beautifully. The Pels would be best served by someone who can both defend the rim and shoot from deep, given Zion's shooting woes, but there are maybe four of those players in the entire league and they aren't for sale. Mobley is a great player to build around for New Orleans.
The Utah Jazz have made it clear that they don't want to trade Lauri Markkanen, but for the right price they may consider it. Trey Murphy III could one day be just as good as Markkanen, and he should thrive in Will Hardy's system in Utah. Dyson Daniels would be an upgrade on Kris Dunn at point guard, and Georges Niang returns to Utah to replace some of the role vacated by Markkanen.
The Cavaliers get back the one who got away, turning Mobley's defense into Markkanen's offense. The Finnish forward is a much better fit for the Cavaliers' recent offensive system than the more stagnant sets they ran when Markkanen was starting at the 3. He would give Cleveland an incredible scoring threat at forward and still bring a lot of size to bear on opponents.
Do any of these trades interest you? Let us know what you think, and sit tight to see just what the Cavaliers do this trad