Cavaliers biggest deadline dealers
Sputtering Cleveland gives its roster a major revamp
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed more than one trade to fix what ailed them so they remade about half their roster in a series of unexpected moves to take one more run at an NBA championship.
In what will go down as one of the most fascinating trade deadline days ever, the Cavaliers went in all in on a new group of young players, adding long-term salary but blowing up a roster that had looked old, slow and dysfunctional through 50 games of the season.
Gone are guard Isaiah Thomas, big man Channing Frye and their 2018 first-round pick, moved to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr.
Gone are guard Derrick Rose, swingman Iman Shumpert and forward Jae Crowder, dusted in a threeway deal that got them Utah forward Rodney Hood and Sacramento guard George Hill. Crowder and Rose end up in Utah, Shumpert winds up in Sacramento.
And in a sentimental move, gone too is guard Dwyane Wade, sent home to Miami for a second-round pick, allowing him to eventually retire with the franchise he basically made.
The Raptors made one tiny move, sending little-used project Bruno Caboclo to Sacramento for guard Malachi Richardson.
The other top teams in the Eastern Conference were quiet. Boston had interest in Memphis guard Tyreke Evans but got nothing done; Washington moved guard Shelvin Mack in a tax-saving move; and Milwaukee was silent.
The players most expected to move who didn’t were Evans, Clippers centre DeAndre Jordan and Atlanta guard Marco Belinelli.
But it was the remake of the Cavs that was shocker and will reverberate through the league until this summer’s free- agent period.
Cleveland took on longer term money (about $70 million) but got younger in the process (Clarkson and Nance are both 25) and reset what had been a toxic atmosphere. And the Cavaliers didn’t have to di- vest themselves of the 2018 Brooklyn draft pick they own from the original Kyrie Irving-Thomas deal.
“Jordan and Larry add athleticism, energy and length to both ends of the court for us,” Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman said. “This trade is also a reflection of our continuing commitment to invest in our roster in ways that help us evolve and compete at the highest level now and into the future.”
But the moves do not come without a concern. The deal with the Lakers clears cap room in Los Angeles this coming summer and they could use it to try and pry free-agent-to-be LeBron James away from Cleveland. With Thomas being an unrestricted free agent this summer and Lonzo Ball set as the Lakers point guard of the future, there’s little chance Los Angeles will keep Thomas.
There were a handful of other notable deals: Denver, Dallas and New York cooked up a three-team trade that saw guard Emmanuel Mudiay move from the Nuggets to the Knicks, forward Doug McDermott go from New York to Dallas, and guard Devin Harris move from the Mavericks to the Nuggets.
Chicago sent guard Jameer Nelson for centre Willie Reed, who they will waive, and also picked up forward Noah Vonleh from Portland for the rights to Milovan Rakovic.
Orlando let free-agent-to-be guard Elfrid Payton go to Phoenix for a second-round pick.