CAVS OVERHAUL ROSTER WITH DEADLINE DEALS
From Isaiah Thomas to Dwyane Wade to Derrick Rose, the Cleveland Cavaliers loaded up on big names last summer.
None will be there if the Cavs get back to the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row.
In what felt like an unprecedented do-over for a contending team, Cleveland simply changed the pieces that weren’t fitting for new ones Thursday at the league’s trade deadline.
Fans who usually marvel at LeBron James were instead praising his general manager. Koby Altman used a series of swaps to strengthen a sputtering team and leave open the possibility for more moves.
“They got better. They made the moves they wanted to make, and I’m sure they’re going to make it work over there,” Golden State forward Kevin Durant said. “It’s fun for all the fans and the media to kind of see what’s going on with the trade deadline.”
Cleveland fans probably had the most fun, and for good reason. Their team was the story Thursday.
The Cavs acquired guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr. in a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, who got Thomas — who came to Cleveland from Boston in a point guard swap for Kyrie Irving last summer — forward Channing Frye and a firstround pick from Cleveland.
George Hill came from Sacramento and Rodney Hood from Utah as the Cavs dealt away Rose, Wade, Jae Crowder and Iman Shumpert, changing nearly half their rotation. All that wheeling and dealing stole headlines even with nearly two-thirds of the league’s teams making moves.
The Lakers were the other newsmakers on deadline day, though their swaps were to try to win this summer, not this season. Their deal with the Cavs got them out of future salary and set themselves up to offer perhaps two maximum contracts in free agency.
“This is what I came here to do, was to create flexibility for our organization,” Lakers president Magic Johnson said, “so that one day we can have a superstar or two come to this organization with our incredible young talent that we have that we will continue to grow.”
Wade returned to Miami, mending fences with Heat president Pat Riley and finding a soft landing in a place where he won three championships with James. The Heat have struggled to score this season, and they dealt a second-round pick to bring back the player who did that more than anyone else for their franchise.
“The fact that he decided to come off the bench in Cleveland has minimized and also limited his opportunities to do certain things that he has always been capable of doing,” Riley said, “so I would imagine he would morph right back into the role of being a scorer, a front-line scorer for us, a crunch-time scorer for us, a defender on the ball in niche situations.”
Most of the moves outside Cleveland on Thursday were minor. Many difference-making players had already been traded, from Irving, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler last summer to Blake Griffin last week. There simply weren’t many blockbusters left to be made.
Also, teams have become hesitant to trade first-round picks, which teams often want when they’re dealing a top player. But teams like keeping their picks because it allows them to have affordable talent for a few years on rookie contracts.