Cavaliers Should Sign Intriguing Big-Man Prospect Who Just Became Available

As we're seeing with the recent run of injuries in Cleveland, you can never have too much depth and young talent on an NBA roster.

While Isaiah Mobley and Damian Jones have shown flashes of promise for the Cavs, there's another young big-man prospect who just became available and would be the perfect free agent target.

Cavaliers Rumors: Kenneth Lofton Jr. a Free Agent Target?

The Memphis Grizzlies waived Kenneth Lofton Jr. as part of their roster shuffling to make space for Ja Morant again, and that should make Lofton a popular name among NBA teams looking to add a youngster with upside.

You can be forgiven for not being familiar with Lofton's game: he was an undrafted free agent in 2022, and playing college ball at Louisiana Tech didn't exactly help him make headlines. But he showed what he's capable of in the G League last season.

Lofton was not only the G League Rookie of the Year in 2023, but he was also named All-G League First Team. He went off for 20.2 points, 10.5 boards, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks in just 28.6 minutes per game of G League regular season action.

Of course, there are downsides to his game. Otherwise a 21-year-old like that wouldn't be available.

As an undersized big, at just 6-foot-6, without much of a long-range game (25.0% from beyond the arc), Lofton is a strange fit in the rotation.

He's an outstanding rebounder, but his size doesn't allow him to offer much as a rim protector. And in the modern NBA if you're not able to protect the rim as a big then you're often going to need to at least be able to space the floor on the other end.

But this is why you're signing Lofton as a project. The youngster still has plenty of room to learn, grow and develop. His throwback game (facilitating and running the offense from the inside-out, elite rebounding) may not fit with what the Cavs are doing yet, but being able to do those things so effectively shows that he's a skilled player who may have the potential to learn new roles.

And when we're talking about an end-of-bench spot, or even a 2-way contract that keeps him down in the G League most of the time, there's not much downside in rolling the dice on Lofton's unique potential.

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