Grade the Trade: Cavaliers deal Evan Mobley to the Kings in ballistic proposal

Monday night has the potential to be a significant milestone in the Cleveland Cavaliers' season. They host the white-hot LA Clippers in a showdown between two of the best teams over the last six weeks. In addition, Evan Mobley could be returning after missing six weeks with knee surgery to clean up some loose bodies.

Heading into the season, expectations for Mobley were sky-high. Already a First Team All-Defense player as a sophomore last season, if Mobley took an offensive step forward this year he was a popular candidate to make his first All-Star team. Depending who you ask you'll get a different answer on whether Mobley's season was a disappointing one prior to his injury, but missing six weeks knocks him out of any award discussion for this year.

The Cavaliers have also played extremely well in Mobley's absence, putting a stretch-4 beside Jarrett Allen at all times and thriving with the greater offensive spacing. Can the team keep up their dominance putting the non-shooting Mobley back beside Allen? The defensive upside with Mobley and Allen is obviously high, but the Cavs have had the league's No. 1 defense without him; how much better could they get?

What could lead the Cavaliers to trade Evan Mobley?

All of that combined -- the Cavs playing better with spacing at the 4, their elite defense without Mobley, and his production already as a third-year player -- make him a fascinating trade candidate for Cleveland. Teams never trade elite young prospects like Mobley at this point in their career, but should Cleveland at least consider the idea?

If the Cavaliers could trade Mobley for a package allowing them to lean into this 4-out approach around Allen, should they consider such a deal? Let's lay out one such trade proposal and see what the lineup would look like after the deal.

Laying out the Trade

Trading Mobley for a star wing would be ideal, but those kinds of players are rarely available. Even if they were, Cleveland doesn't have any first-round picks to attach to Mobley to make a run at an All-NBA forward. That's why it may make more sense to target another young prospect on a team that desperately needs an all-league defender in a fascinating version of a challenge trade.

That puts the Sacramento Kings into focus as a trade partner. They have played better defensively this season than last year, but they lack any one single player who absolutely changes the calculus on that end. Mobley would provide that, with the upside to be a tentpole player for them for the next decade.

The Kings also have a young prospect of their own who is blossoming into one of the league's best young forwards, and his comfort level shooting from outside makes him an ideal fit in a frontcourt with Jarrett Allen, whether he plays at the 4 or the 5. That player is second-year forward Keegan Murray.

Here is what a trade could look like:

The Kings get an All-Defense player to pair with Domantas Sabonis in the frontcourt. The Cavs can utilize a number of schemes with the versatile Mobley, but one clear approach would be to have Sabonis play drop coverage and defend an opposing team's center, with Mobley free to roam and recover on the weakside. Yet if the Kings wanted to play a more aggressive scheme, having Sabonis blitz on the perimeter gives them one of the league's best rim protectors rotating in behind him.

The Kings would be giving up Murray, but they would get back a player with a higher upside. Playing Mobley also allows them to be more comfortable playing elite offensive players with defensive weaknesses, as Mobley is the ultimate clean-up player.

If Sacramento talks themselves into making this deal, would the Cavaliers say yes?

Should the Cavaliers make this deal?

The mere idea of trading Evan Mobley is an explosive one. The Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans are understandably enamored with the young defensive phenom. It's also fair to say that the odds of the Cavs moving Mobley are slim; front offices tend to be more in love with their picks than other teams, so finding the right valuation even if the team were to consider a deal would be nearly impossible.

Taking the emotions out of it, however, the lineup that the Cavs would have in the wake of such a trade is enticing. Keegan Murray ranks 26th in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game, and while his percentage is down this year (36.3 percent) he hit 41.1 percent on similar volume last year, and has proven himself enough that he will be closely defended on the perimeter.

Murray is also no defensive slouch. At 6'8" with a 6'11" wingspan Murray has an excellent frame to take on both wings and forwards, and he routinely takes on the most formidable opposing player for the Kings. He has proven himself in that role, with Basketball Index rating him among the best wing stoppers in the league:

Murray is already an elite 3-and-D player and is growing as an on-ball scorer, so the upside is still extremely high for a player in just his second season. He's already 23 years old as he came into the league older than most prospects, but that's hardly old. He has already proven himself a player who will continue to develop and add tools to his bag.

Murray is without doubt a better positional fit for the Cavaliers; is his upside enough to make the Cavaliers consider such a deal? Probably not in reality, but it's a deal the Cavs should at least strongly discuss. The Kings themselves probably value their two-way forward too highly to make a deal anyway, but this swap is one that could help both teams in a significant way.

In the end? This is a deal that won't happen. But it's extremely tempting to consider.

Grade: B+