NBA trade season is upon us, and with it comes a maelstrom of rumors and speculation. Will this star player be made available? Can that team magic the perfect role player out of thin air? Teams are dreaming of the ideal trade targets while also being sure to set the price high on their own players.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will almost certainly be one of those teams wading into the trade waters. Whether that's because they're trying to shore up the rotation while missing Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for the next month or two, or a long-term upgrade when they're at full strength, or even considering a bigger move.
If the Cavaliers are to make a trade, that almost certainly involves sending out players to receive others back. Which members of the Cavs' roster could be on the move? Let's identify five Cavaliers who are least likely to last the season in Cleveland.
No. 5: Ricky Rubio
In a sense, Rubio won't last the season in Cleveland because he appears increasingly unlikely to ever step foot in Cleveland this year. Rubio, expected to be the Cavs' backup point guard this year, stepped away from basketball over the summer to focus on his mental health. While the team has been btoh udnerstanding and outwardly supportive of Rubio's decision, the lack of a reliable backup point guard as the Cavs have had multiple injuries at the position has been less than ideal.
That makes Rubio an obvious choice as a means of matching salary in a trade. The Cavaliers can either send Rubio's contract and draft capital to a team for a low-cost rotation player (Rubio makes $6.1 million this season) or coimbine him with other salaries to make a larger swing. If the Cavs could get Rubio back for the rotation that may change the calculus, but as things stand he appears to be a prime candidate to be moved.
No. 4: Isaac Okoro
Isaac Okoro was drafted with the hope that he could be the team's long-term starting small forward, combining elite on-ball defensive ability with slashing and passing on offense. If the shot came around, he could have been one of the Cavaliers' tentpole players.
The defense was as-advertised, but Okoro never developed as a ball-handler and playmaker, and the shot remains stuck at below-average. "Ice" got plenty of opportunity to take the necessary steps forward on offense, including 181 starts in four seasons, but he remains too limited on that end of the court, despite his 39.5 percent 3-point shooting on a very small diet of easy attempts this year.
The Cavaliers have already replaced Okoro in the starting lineup, signing Max Strus this summer to start at small forward. The two sides were unable to come to terms on an extension before the October deadline, which means Okoro is hurtling toward restricted free agency with his future in Cleveland very unclear.
Last season, the Philadelphia 76ers gave up on their young defensive specialist in lieu of more balanced options, trading Matisse Thybulle at the Trade Deadline before he hit unrestricted free agency. The Boston Celtics elected not to do the same with Grant Williams, and instead lost him largely for nothing.
It's certainly not a done deal that the Cavaliers trade Okoro, especially since they don't have a clear-cut replacement for his defensive role, but given that he is unlikely to factor into the Cavaliers' plans after this year, it's almost a certainty that he will be shopped in trade conversations.
No. 3: Damian Jones
The Cleveland Cavaliers knew that there would be injuries this season. They also knew that when healthy they may not even need a center beyond Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Their attempt to balance resources well was to trade for Damian Jones to be the third center, with Tristan Thompson as an emergency body and otherwise more of a locker room veteran.
The first problem for the Cavaliers is that they have faced more than their fair share of injuries, including a long absence for Allen and now a much longer one for Mobley. The other problem is that Damian Jones has been virtually unplayable, forcing Tristan Thompson into a rotation role.
Thompson has been solid, but he was never supposed to be playing every game, let alone closing them at times. He was in an ESPN studio this time last year. The Cavs needed more from Jones and he wasn't able to provide it, and if he isn't getting minutes now then he isn't helpful to keep around.
The Cavaliers would love to toss him into another trade to clear his salary off of the books, but if necessary they could consider waiving him outright to sign another player. Their proximity to the luxury tax is likely the only thing keeping him around. If he can take advantage of some spot minutes to play better he could convince the team to keep him around, or at the least audition for his next team, but his play thus far hasn't been worth the Cavs' investment in him, however minimal it was.
No. 2: Caris LeVert
The Cleveland Cavaliers love Caris LeVert. He is a great culture guy, he has built a rapport with the coaches, he plays hard on both ends of the court and he has filled the role asked of him, not only coming off of the bench but buying in on defense to ensure he's an asset to the team instead of a liability.
With that being said, it will always be the case that LeVert is best as an on-ball player, and there are teams in the association that genuinely need that ability more than the Cavaliers do. When healthy, they have Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland leading the way, with Evan Mobley needing more touches as he develops. LeVert's role is helpful, certainly with the current injuries to Garland and Mobley, but he is somewhat dupicative and certainly not essential.
The Cavaliers want to keep LeVert, but if they are trying to bring in a player making substantial money, including LeVert's contract seems like the best way to get there. LeVert and Ricky Rubio, for example, puts them above $20 million in matching salary. LeVert is also one of their few non-core players who holds enough value to entice other teams, rather than simply being filler salary alongside draft picks.
If the Cavaliers don't trade one of their five starters, LeVert is their best path to making a real upgrade. He is good enough that not a lot of trades will actually improve the team much, and he is vitally important during this stretch without LeVert and Mobley. In the end, however, LeVert's value to other teams and contract make him a prime candidate to be involved in a trade.
No. 1: Jarrett Allen
The biggest move that the Cavaliers can make is to trade Donovan Mitchell, but they are understandably reluctant to pull the trigger. The next step down, then, is to trade one of their other starters, and Jarrett Allen looks like the most likely candidate to be moved in a deal.
It's not that he isn't important to the Cavs; the first two weeks of the season illustrated that when he is out of the lineup, the Cavaliers are a worse defensive team and exert less vertical pressure on the rim. He has had a few dominant games where his rim-running and defense have overwhelmed opponents, most recently against the Atlanta Hawks and most memorably in shutting down Nikola Jokic in a win over the defending-champion Denver Nuggets.
Yet while the Cavaliers' success without Evan Mobley the past few games has illustrated Allen's strengths, it has also spoken to the categorical weakness of this roster. Playing a shooter at power forward opens up the offense in a dynamic way, Mobley and Allen together are elite defensively but put a ceiling on the offense; one alone can still be strong defensively and allows the offense to be unleashed.
That doesn't mean the Cavaliers will be quick to make a move, but they will strongly consider it. Unless Evan Mobley takes a major step forward as a shooter, a step he has shown no indications of as he has regressed even more as a shooter this season, the Cavs will eventually need to break up the elite defensive pairing.
There are not a lot of suitors on the market for Allen, but there are certainly at least a few. His combination of ability and salary could be the foundation for a trade to bring a two-way forward onto the team, even if their pure talent level is lower than Allen's. Could someone like Jerami Grant or P.J. Washington be part of a deal?
No one single player on the Cavaliers is "likely" to be traded, but at least a few certainly will be. These five players have the greatest chances of being moved in a deal and not finishing the season on the Cavaliers' roster.