Five trades for the Cleveland Cavaliers to consider ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers head into the 2020 NBA Draft with one of the worst rosters in the Eastern Conference. Adding another young draft pick won’t exactly accelerate the Cavs rebuild, but there aren’t a ton of options for the Wine and Gold.
Taking a player at No. 5 won’t make the Cavs’ a playoff contender, but with no chance of signing a game-changing free agent, Cleveland will have to look at the trade market if they’d like to put their foot on the gas in this rebuilt.
They do have trade pieces. Kevin Love is always on the block. Andre Drummond could be nice piece for a contender and he’s only under contract for a year. Plus, the Cavs have younger assets on a roster loaded with first-round picks.
Here’s five trade scenarios to consider ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.
1. Drummond to Warriors for Wiggins
In this proposal the Cavs would ship Andre Drummond to the Warriors for Andrew Wiggins, in addition to Golden State’s 2021 first-round pick.
Wiggins didn’t turn out to the player everyone expected him to be, but if I were the Cavs, I’d still take this trade in a minute simply because it’s easier to find big man who can’t stretch floor as opposed to wing that can legitimately contribute on both side of the ball.
Drummond’s going to get his stats, but I don’t think that will translate much into the victory column, so if you can get player such as Wiggins, in addition to a future draft asset, the Cavs should seriously consider this offer, which was first proposed by Forbes writer Evan Dammarell.
Drummond will almost certainly pick up the $28.5 million player option for the 2020-2021 season, and he fulfills Golden’s State’s need of acquiring a big man. If acquired, Golden State wouldn’t be locked into taking a big in the draft, either, although they still may for future plans.
2. Drummond and Cedi to OKC for Chris Paul
The next proposal comes from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who said the Cleveland Cavaliers have the assets to trade for Oklahoma City point guard Chris Paul.
“They could offer Cedi Osman, who the Thunder have liked for years. They’ve tried to trade for him several times” Windhorst said on WKNR’s Really Big Show Oct. 29 (subscription).
Windhorst stressed the point that he hadn’t heard of any actual rumors involving this deal, but believes it’s there if Cleveland should want it. He seemed to base this off Paul’s salary, as he noted the Thunder probably don’t want to pay Paul $44 million in 2021-2022, the final year of his contract.
If the Cavs try and make a move to be relevant in the NBA playoff picture, the team could easily absorb Paul’s salary. It was recently revealed that Dan Gilbert is one of the richest people in the world and his ability to spend in uncertain economic times when other teams might not could make this a deal for the Cavs to look at.
While Paul is at the end of the line, he’d dramatically upgrade the point guard position for the next year or two, as Collin Sexton just hasn’t shown the ability to distribute the basketball.
3. Ben Simmons to Cleveland for Darius Garland, Kevin Love
It’s a rumor that dates back to August, but the idea of Ben Simmons to the Cleveland Cavaliers should be even more likely considering the disaster that was the Philadelphia 76ers in the Disney Bubble.
It was previously written that the Cavs have enough assets to catch Philadelphia’s attention. The Cavs roster includes several first-round picks, including Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., Dylan Windler and the fifth pick in the upcoming draft.
Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor wrote the following about a possible deal over the summer:
"“Those picks, combined with one of the young guys and some salary filler, is a good start. It’s also why the Cavs have spent the first few years of the post-LeBron era stockpiling assets. In any potential trade discussion, the Cavs would cling tightest to Kevin Porter Jr.”"
I threw Love into the deal because the Cavs would have to make the money work. Simmons is due $30 million next season. Love seems to always be on the trade market, but there hasn’t been a ton of speculation surrounding his name lately.
Adding Garland and Love would put shooters around Joel Emiid as Philly looks to get over the hump in the East.
Adding a player such as Simmons would green light the Cavs for a run at a playoff spot and considering free agents won’t be signing here, drafting and trading remain Cleveland’s only options.
4. Larry Nance to Celtics for No. 14
It sounds like a bad trade for right now, but the current roster isn’t close to being playoff ready, and trading a player such as Nance doesn’t make it better.
That said, as long as the Cavs keep rebuilding, they need to stay in asset acquisition mode, which means adding picks and taking swings in the first round.
Since coming to the Cavs, Nance has established himself as a fan favorite. His game has also grown considerably from where he was when he was drafted by Lakers out of Wyoming.
The Wolves and the Warriors are apparently looking to trade down from Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, so if the Cavs truly do covet LaMelo Ball or Anthony Edwards, they could package the fifth and 14th picks in an attempt to move up.
The downside of this deal, which was proposed by The Athletic’s John Hollinger, is that if the Cavs get the 14th pick from the Celtics, they’ll likely have to use it and the roster is already loaded with first-round selections. That said, nobody who’s been drafted the past two seasons is a bonafide superstar, at least, not yet.
This deal would also include Enes Kanter, Vincent Poirier, but those are just throw-ins to make the money work.
5. Cavs get Troy Brown Jr. and No. 9 for 5th pick
Rumors concerning the draft are all over the place. Some advocate trading up, but others have the Cavs looking to move down.
Frankly, it all depends on how the Cavs have their draft board set up. If they believe they can get as good a player at No. 9, than they can at No. 5, they should take this trade, which was originally posted here.
In the deal, the Cavs get Troy Brown and the ninth pick, while the Wizards move up to No. 5. to select Onyeka Okongwu.
I’m not sure the Wizards would want to make this deal because Brown is just 20 and averaged 10.1 points per game last season. He’s 6-foot-7 and a capable defender.
Defense is a big reason the Cavs should salivate at the idea of adding Brown, because frankly, no one knows how to play it and the 15th overall pick from the 2018 draft is a more than capable defender.
Again, this is an unlikely one, but perhaps Washington believes there will be a player at No. 5 that they’ll be better off with.