LeBron James back in Cleveland? Should the Cavs trade Collin Sexton? Jason Lloyd’s Cavs mailbag



NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 7: Collin Sexton #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots the ball against the New York Knicks on November 7, 2021 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2021 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

By Jason Lloyd Jan 30, 2022 21
Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Not advocating for or against, simply asking … is LeBron coming back at some point a reality? — Brent W.

I will answer this as honestly and transparently as I can:

Here’s what I know: LeBron James and Cleveland — or, better yet, LeBron and Dan Gilbert — are square. They both needed each other to get where they wanted to go. Gilbert needed LeBron to win a championship, and LeBron needed Gilbert to spend enough to make delivering a championship here feasible. Each man delivered. They owe each other nothing.

I’ve written and said this before, but the first time I had someone with the Cavs tell me LeBron was leaving for Los Angeles was about four months after the championship in 2016. I was stunned. I spoke to Pat Riley recently for another piece I’m working on, and we got on the topic of LeBron.

“I think everybody knew that’s where he was going to end up,” Riley said of James in L.A. “It was that kind of life he wants to live: produce and be involved in entertainment.”

For multiple reasons, I tend to believe James will retire with the Lakers, but never say never. Could he come back and spend his final year in Cleveland? Sure, I suppose. His 17-year-old son Bronny’s basketball future plays a role in this as well. LeBron has not hidden the fact he’d love to play with his son in the NBA. He joked with me once, “I’d play one game (with Bronny) and retire.”

I’ll add another layer to this: When James returned the first time, I was told by multiple people that he “doesn’t like playing with kids.” You saw after he got here how fast the roster turned from young to old. Now look at the Lakers roster. James likes playing with vets who understand the game. This Cavs team is uber-talented, but it’s also uber-young.

James still has another year left on his deal and the Lakers aren’t trading him, so any thought of James coming back before summer 2023 is moot. He’s still playing at an incredibly high level, but what condition will he be in at 39? At 40?

For 20 years, the Cavs’ identity was tethered to LeBron. “We have to tank and be bad enough to possibly draft him. … We got him, now we have to win. … Oh no, we lost him. We have to get him back. … We got him back. Now we have to win a championship.”

Two decades of that. It’s the only time in professional sports I can recall a franchise being obsessed with a player like that, and for good reason. He’s one of the best. But the Cavs knew when LeBron left in 2018 that he couldn’t be the plan anymore, and they delivered faster than anyone thought possible. If LeBron wanted to return for a third tour at the end, fine. But I don’t think anyone at Cleveland Clinic Courts is worried about that right now.

Do you see the Cavs making any moves now that Lauri Markkanen is out? Dean Wade does decent enough filling in, but winning games when scoring less than 100 is not sustainable in today’s NBA. — Jacob P.

They’re going to make moves, yes, but I don’t believe it’s tied to Lauri Markkanen. He should be back by the end of February. It probably has more to do with losing Ricky Rubio and now having his $18 million contract as an easy trade vehicle to get something done. I agree they need more scoring and another creator. That’s where I believe their focus will be.

How realistic would it be for Collin Sexton to return for the playoffs, and how much should that factor into whether to trade him? — Chris C.

I don’t believe whatever slim chance he might have at returning will factor into their trade discussions. I previously wrote that the Cavs shopped Sexton last summer and couldn’t get the value they deemed he was worth. If they find something that they like, I believe they’d move him rather than hope he could be ready by April following knee surgery. It’s also an awfully big ask of a young player with zero postseason experience to play an important role in a playoff series after missing the entire season.

I’ve been hard on Sexton and the Cavs’ handling of him, but I believe there is a role for him on this new-look Cavs team as a bench scorer. The question, as always, will come down to money and if the two sides can agree. I already laid out how rare it is for players in his position to sign new deals with the teams that didn’t extend them after their third year. The Cavs are likely going to be a tax-paying team starting next season. How high are they willing to go for someone who is best suited to be a bench player?

Last spring, the Atlanta Hawks were the up-and-comers in the Eastern Conference. This year, not so much. What do the Cavs need to do to ensure they don’t replicate the “success” of last year’s Hawks? — Gary M.

Good question. This is the challenge with all young teams after enjoying a little bit of success: Can they keep the same focus? The Hawks are facing multiple issues. Clint Capela isn’t having the same impact on games defensively that he had last season, and offensively, no one has emerged to take the pressure off Trae Young.

This will be a challenge for the Cavs next season. This isn’t a finished product. They still need to get better on the wing, and I’m not sure how they can do it. But Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, if healthy, should keep them near the top of the defensive rankings for years. Offensively, they already know they need another creator. That’s what this trade deadline is for.

Are the Cavs out of the running for Ben Simmons? If we add him, we’ll win the East. If we don’t, we’ll lose in the first few rounds of the playoffs. — Rama R.

I like Simmons, but I don’t know if he’s the difference between an NBA Finals appearance and a first-round exit, as you suggest. I believe the Cavs like him, too, but the Sixers have yet to waver from a staggeringly high price tag. The Cavs aren’t going to disassemble any of their three key pieces in a deal for him, and they don’t want to do anything right now that would disrupt the terrific chemistry they’ve built on the floor and in the locker room. I believe the Cavs will continue to be active in trade talks, but I’d be surprised if they wind up with Simmons.

Koby Altman deserves a ton of credit for not missing on draft picks. What other parts of the Cavs organization have contributed to that success? Is the player-development team particularly strong? Are the team’s scouts really good? How do you parse the organizational growth? — David M.

I asked a similar question to someone in the organization a few days ago. It’s a commitment to playing younger players even when they’re getting their heads beaten in and it’s a commitment from player-development coaches to put in the extra hours on guys who might not even make the roster or contribute much if they do.

Playing younger guys even when they make mistakes is complicated. Some coaches push back on that and believe you need to pull younger players out and bench them when they make mistakes to teach them accountability and show the rest of the locker room that the rookies will be held to the same standard. But it’s also true that game experience is often the best teacher and fastest way to improve. Ultimately, the Cavs played all of their youngsters through the growing pains and mistakes, and they’re reaping the benefits.

The Cavs have Rubio’s expiring contract and their three picks in this upcoming draft (and maybe Sexton) to deal. I’ve read about Caris LeVert and Eric Gordon as options, but who would you like them to go after? Or should we ride this out and re-sign Rubio? Would others in the league see moving Rubio as dirty, sorta like Boston moving Isaiah Thomas? He’s meant a lot to our success. — Jeffrey H.

This is nothing like the Isaiah Thomas situation in Boston. Rubio was here for only a couple of months and is on an expiring contract and out for the rest of the season. His contract is the perfect vehicle to get a deal done for a team short on cap space. Caris LeVert and Eric Gordon are realistic options because they’re on teams going nowhere. Regardless of names, the most important thing to consider is the Cavs are up against the tax line and have no intention of becoming a tax-paying team. The only way to accomplish that and add a player of significance is to move Rubio’s money.

How important has Sexton been to setting the organizational culture? The Cavs are a team of workers, and I’ve always seen Sexton as a consummate worker. Have the players followed his lead or is the team just choosing hard workers? — David M.

Sexton is indeed a ferocious worker, but I wouldn’t credit him for setting the organization’s culture. The Cavs have done a good job of identifying players without egos who are willing to put in the work.


Kevin Love reacts after hitting a 3-pointer in the first half against the Bucks on Jan. 26. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)
Kevin Love looked salty about being subbed out in crunch time for Wade on Monday. We all know the Cavs suffer defensively when Love is out there against first-teamers, but are the Cavs better served during Markkanen’s absence to have their best bench scorer on the floor in crunch time? And … we need our rookie phenom to hit his free throws in crunch time. We’ve had two games in two weeks that could have been put away and weren’t. — Matthew S.

I was at Monday’s game, but I didn’t notice what you’re referencing. The only thing I can tell you is Kevin Love and the Cavs have an agreement that when he’s hot and feeling it, he wants the opportunity to close out games. That wasn’t the case Monday, however. Mobley did miss two big free throws at the end against the Knicks, but he also secured a big rebound after that. He’s shooting around 68 percent from the line this season, which is about what he shot last year at USC. It’s one of the areas he needs to improve, for sure.

The Cavs seem to be a different team without Rubio running the second unit. Would they lose Bird rights if they traded his expiring contract? Even with the injury, do you have a sense of whether he’ll be re-signed? Would that factor into trade decisions? Related but unrelated, with a James Harden–Ben Simmons sign-and-trade seemingly possible in the offseason, does that affect what the Cavs do with Sexton at the deadline? Does he become more viable as a sign-and-trade after the season with other pieces staying on the board, or is there more value in moving him with Rubio’s expiring contract to swing big? Or will the Cavs re-sign him (that feels unlikely, but what do I know)? — Ryan L.

Because Rubio is on an expiring contract, he has no value to the Cavs since he’s out for the season. I’d expect them to trade him before the deadline. Rubio wasn’t thrilled with the idea of coming to Cleveland immediately after the trade, but the Cavs talked to him about his role and he quickly bought in. The results were evident. He was a terrific fit here. The knee injury is a game-changer, however. It’s his second ACL tear in that knee, and at 31, I think it’s fair to wonder what kind of player he’ll be when he returns. Before the injury, I wrote in a mailbag that Rubio could still start for teams around the league. Now, I’m not sure what his future holds.

Has Lamar Stevens done enough this year to convince the brass to keep him around for the foreseeable future? He’s on a team-friendly, nonguaranteed deal for the next couple of years. Do you think the Cavs keep him around for the entire contract? — Tom S.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times now how impressed I’ve been with Lamar Stevens’ development and the Cavs’ ability to maximize his talent. They control his rights for two more years. At this point, I see no reason for him not being around.

Which team has the best chance of winning a ring in the next five years? — Jonathan L.

The answer to this question changes monthly, right? I would have given a much different answer in September. Right now, however, it has to be the Cavs. With their young talent under contract for the foreseeable future, ownership’s willingness to spend into the tax and the stability at head coach and GM, the Cavs are in great shape.

Brad Daugherty brings some welcome basketball insight and commentary to the Bally Sports broadcast team. Is he being groomed to replace Austin Carr? — Michael C.

I’ve heard nothing to this point about Carr retiring. Daugherty is fairly busy. I’m not sure his schedule would allow him to be a full-time analyst, anyway. But he brings a fresh perspective to the telecasts he joins. I like it.

Does Rajon Rondo sufficiently cover for Rubio in the Cavaliers’ scheme of things or might an upgrade be acquired? — Jim R.

Rondo was an emergency add because the Cavs needed someone else who could dribble and bring the ball up the floor. Darius Garland was out at the time, and Rubio went down with the knee injury. It was a great Band-Aid, and Rondo has a little more left in the tank than I thought. But the Cavs could probably do a little better at the deadline to upgrade that spot.

Question about the ’80s-’90s Cavs: Is there any reason Ron Harper is overlooked when talking about the Cavs from that era? It seems like he’s rarely talked about as a Cavs player from that time. — Gil R.

He probably isn’t mentioned much because of the trade. I’ve often wondered how those Cavs teams would’ve fared differently had Ron Harper remained in town.

Do you think the Cavs are actively shopping their first-round pick this year? Or are they more likely to hold on to it to see if they can get someone in the high 20s (wink, wink) who can add to the young core? — Matt S.

That pick is far more valuable to them in trade than it is in drafting someone to add. Because you’re right: The way this is going, it’s not going to be a lottery pick. I’d expect them to move it at the deadline.

CAP GEEKERY: Cleveland’s injury exception

Cleveland was awarded an $8.9 million injured player exception this past week for the injured Ricky Rubio, which may not matter at all but could end up being a big deal in one or two particular scenarios.

First, some background: When a player has a season-ending injury (and the league doctors agree that this is the case), a team can apply for an exception that allows them to add half that player’s salary. Rubio, for example, is on the books for $17.8 million this year, so his injury exception is worth half that figure, or $8.9 million.

There is some fine print that makes the exception harder to use, however. First, the salary can be added via free agency or trade, but it must be an ending contract — i.e., it cannot extend beyond the current season. The exception also goes away in March, so it’s not anything a team could carry over into the draft or free agency. Finally, exceptions cannot be combined.

The hardest part, however, is that the exception does not apply to the luxury tax, just the salary cap. If the other stipulations don’t prevent a team from using it, this is often the one that does.

In Cleveland’s case, for instance, the Cavs are just $3.3 million from the tax line. So, using the Rubio exception to take in a player making $8 million is going to be a problem if they want to avoid the tax.

However, there is one particular scenario where this might really matter: Dennis Schröder. Schröder makes $5.89 million this year, which is more than Cleveland’s existing $4.2 million exception for JaVale McGee. While it was technically possible to formulate a trade with two minimum contracts (such as the little-used Kevin Pangos and Ed Davis) going to Boston for Schröder, that version still leaves Boston at risk of entering the tax and gives Cleveland itself virtually no wiggle room for the rest of the season.

The exception makes life easier because the Cavs can execute two separate trades — one with Boston to send a minimum contract and (presumably) a second-round pick, and another with a third party to send a contract and cash. Normally this would have to be a three-team deal to be kosher, and that gets sticky due to the rules around three-team trades.

I mentioned Schröder, but one can envision other ways for Cleveland to go here too. Atlanta’s Kevin Knox, Brooklyn’s Bruce Brown, San Antonio’s Lonnie Walker IV, Memphis’ Jarrett Culver and Detroit’s Josh Jackson are other perimeter players whose expiring salaries fit into this exception but make too much to be part of McGee’s.

As ever, the best bet is the exception goes unused. But Cleveland’s is large enough to present some interesting options (including “exception recycling” by trading a similar-sized contract for a player who fits into the exception and generating a new one to use in the offseason). It will be interesting to see if the added flexibility helps the Cavs at the trade deadline.

Garland an All Star. Not Allen. Hope he's back soon; they are pretty desperate on offense without him.

Indeed the offense is a disaster without Garland.

Points to a pretty specific need as the trade deadline approaches.

Sources: Cleveland Cavaliers acquire Caris LeVert in trade with Indiana Pacers
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Adrian Wojnarowski

The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired Indiana Pacers guard Caris LeVert in a trade, sources told ESPN on Sunday, making a significant addition to one of the most promising young rosters in the Eastern Conference.

LeVert goes to the Cavaliers with a 2022 second-round pick via Miami for Ricky Rubio's expiring contract, a lottery-protected 2022 first-round pick and two second-round picks, sources said.

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The Pacers will acquire a 2022 second-round draft pick via Houston that is likely to be in the low 30s. The Cavaliers are also sending a 2027 second-round pick via the Utah Jazz.

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NBA trade tracker: Grades, details for every deal for the 2021-22 season
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LeVert provides the Cavaliers -- one of the surprise teams in the league -- a much-needed scorer with the ability to get to the rim. LeVert is averaging 18.7 points this season, including a 42-point performance against Chicago on Friday.

The Pacers are beginning what is expected to be a roster makeover, with big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner prominent in trade talks. Rubio's expiring contract (worth $17.8 million) will drop the Pacers to $94 million in payroll this offseason and move them $26 million below the cap. The Pacers join the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs among teams with significant cap space in free agency. Rubio is lost for the season with an ACL injury.

LeVert joins former Brooklyn Nets teammate Jarrett Allen with the Cavs. The two were a part of the four-team James Harden trade a year ago. Allen has emerged as a force at center for the Cavaliers this season, and LeVert is expected to make an impact as a player who ranks among the top 10 scorers in the league on drives to the basket -- a category in which Cleveland entered Sunday ranked 29th in the league, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle informed LeVert in the late afternoon Sunday that the trade was happening. LeVert sat out Indiana's 98-85 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday night.

The Cavaliers are 33-21, just one game behind the Miami Heat for first place in the Eastern Conference. LeVert, 27, fits well in a young roster that includes first-time All-Star guard Darius Garland, Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley and Allen.

LeVert will enter the final year of his contract at $18.8 million next season, making him extension eligible. It's expected that Cleveland will want to engage LeVert and his agent, Austin Brown, the co-head of CAA Basketball, on a long-term extension in the offseason.

ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks contributed to this report.

The Cavs wanted to capitalize on a breakthrough season without disrupting chemistry. Caris Levert is a perfect fit.



Jan 26, 2022; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Caris LeVert (22) in the second half against the Charlotte Hornets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
By Kelsey Russo 1h ago 8

The Cleveland Cavaliers have made their move.

Before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, the Cavs bolstered their backcourt by acquiring Caris LeVert and a 2022 second-round pick from the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Ricky Rubio and his expiring $17.8 million contract, the Cavs’ lottery-protected 2022 first-round pick, the Rockets’ 2022 second-round pick and a future 2027 second-round pick from Utah, The Athletic confirmed.

With the season-ending injuries to Ricky Rubio and Collin Sexton, there was a need for the Cavs to solidify their backcourt depth. They made an immediate move in early January to trade for Rajon Rondo to add a backup point guard, but still needed to look for a long-term solution for their backcourt. While Cleveland has made its own jump this season and is in the conversation for the playoffs, the addition of LeVert helps push that conversation forward even more.

The Cavs are now third in the Eastern Conference with a 33-21 record after they beat the Pacers Sunday night. The race at the top of the East is tight, so the Cavs must find a way to build on their early-season success as the remainder of the season unfolds. The addition of LeVert can help them do so, and potentially help separate them from other contenders in the standings.

LeVert’s skill set can aid the Cavs. He is a talented playmaker who can partner with All-Star Darius Garland in the backcourt and also help Garland with some scoring on the perimeter. LeVert is efficient and can get his teammates involved, but also be a scoring threat the Cavs need. The 27-year-old is averaging 18.7 points this season, shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from 3. He also dishes out 4.4 assists per game.

But an important component that played into the trade and for the Cavs’ future is the chemistry element. This season, the Cavs have found a level of chemistry on the floor that has been built through organic interactions and time spent together, a level of buying into what coach J.B. Bickerstaff has preached since preseason and a way in which they celebrate one another’s achievements together. That chemistry has led to the Cavs’ success on the floor and developed their identity as a defensive-minded team.

There had to be a balance of preserving that chemistry while finding ways to improve their roster, especially in the backcourt.

“I think it’s about the person that you bring in,” Bickerstaff said in his pregame press conference. “And you have to do your due diligence on the character of the person that you’re bringing in, or the people that you’re bringing in because again, we’re not in the position we’re in where we’re buyers at this point if it wasn’t for our chemistry. So we won’t do anything that will disrupt that, for sure. And then again, your decision has to be based on a talent that’s so clear, clearly an improvement or an upgrade for the team where people understand that we’re making moves to get better. Our guys in that locker room are extremely competitive, so we need to make sure that whatever the decision we make is a decision that’s going to really give us a leap.”

LeVert is that guy.

“He’s a first-class human being, first-class professional, tremendous player and a guy that I’m going to miss working with,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said in his pregame press conference Sunday night. Carlisle also said the Cavs-Pacers trade for LeVert had been agreed to in principle.

The LeVert trade checks another box as the Cavs continue to improve their roster and establish themselves as legitimate contenders. Cleveland already has a number of players who are part of their youthful core – like 22-year-old Garland, 20-year-old Evan Mobley and 23-year-old Jarrett Allen. Allen and LeVert were teammates in Brooklyn prior to Allen being traded to the Cavs last season.

LeVert has one more season on his contract through the 2022-23 season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. ESPN reported that there is an expectation Cleveland will want to engage on a long-term extension in the offseason. If that is the case, LeVert could be another added piece to that trio and a key part of the Cavs’ ultimate goal of contending for an NBA title.

Hilarious to hear a few Cavs fans that do not like this trade. Simple minds !

Look at it this way. If the Cavs were drafting 20+ in the 2022 NBA draft would you take Levert or whatever rookie was available ?

How about we make this trade 4 months earlier so you have a better chance in the playoffs this year ?

What do you need to make that happen ? How about a high 2nd round pick who pan out about 5% of the time ?

That would be great but how do we pay his 18 million dollar salary ?

Tell you what. I really like you. How about we take your injured player who is a free agent next year and will not play any more this season. Salaries are close and the Cavs do not go into the luxury tax.

Where do I sign ?

One other thing about this trade. You might have 3 expiring contracts next year. Levert, Sexton and Love. Could remake the club if something goes wrong !

rusty - as usual this is the power of Gilbert's wallet to take on a salary.

Levert is the guy the Cavs need to compliment Garland. With him out that gap was sorely exposed.

By the way Ballmer did the same thing for the Clippers and Norman Powell.

From what I read LaVert's salary is almost exactly the same as Rubio's. So for this year there's no added cost. LaVert has one more year.

The Cavs have used their collection of draft picks to great effect: for good draft picks; and for great deals.
How the Cavs could possibly not win Exec of the Year, Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year I cannot imagine. Other teams [Phoenix, Miami, Memphis have excelled but none has so vastly outperformed expectations.] Preseason the question was whether Cleveland ranked as high as 25th or still about 28th; now they're in the top 10. And super optimists thought perhaps they could win 35 games but no one really expected it, and now they are only 2 wins short.

Good post civ. Agree - Memphis and Phoenix really the only comparables to what Cleveland has done.

Memphis probably the closest. Phoenix started this season with more - yes - but then again Phoenix is also better than the Cavs NOW too.

So you can make arguments but being in the top 3 discussion for organizational expertise is pretty nice.

Hollinger: When comparing Caris LeVert and Norman Powell deals, it’s all about the contracts


By John Hollinger Feb 6, 2022 53

Technically, teams trade contracts, not players.

On the official trade call with the league office, the NBA’s lawyer specifies that the contract of the player is being traded, then reads out some of the details of that contract for all parties. (Both sides, of course, are deeply familiar with said contract by this point.) Afterward, the actual trade memo from the league will say something to the effect of “Memphis trades the contract of Player X to New York for the contract of Player Y.”

This is an important distinction because it helps you to understand two apparently conflicting factors from the past week:

Norman Powell is a better player than Caris LeVert.
Trading Norman Powell returned less capital than trading Caris Levert.
In the wake of Sunday’s reported deal that would send Ricky Rubio, Cleveland’s 2022 first-round pick, a second-round pick swap and a future second to Indiana for LeVert, two fan bases in particular have questions.

Cavs fans, after slapping their foreheads that they just pushed their chips in a year after going 22-50, wonder why they traded for LeVert rather than Powell if Powell would have cost less and is better. Meanwhile, Blazers fans are asking why they got less for Powell than Indy did for LeVert if Powell is better.

Again, trades aren’t technically about players. As a noted Danish hooper named Hamlet* once said: “The contract’s the thing.” For Cleveland, there is a very important distinction between the contract of Powell and the contract of LeVert: Powell is signed for four years beyond this one, at increasing money, until he makes $20.5 million in 2025-26 at the age of 32.

(*Editor’s note: Hamlet wasn’t a real person and did not play basketball.)

Is Powell’s contract so bad? In the eyes of some teams, those out years are a liability. Fans and observers are generally too optimistic about the aging curve (“Look, Jeff Green is still playing!”) because of the availability bias — they remember the ones who stayed in the league and forget the great number of players who hit a wall and went splat in their late 20s and early 30s. Hey, remember when Greg Monroe got a max free-agent deal? He just signed a 10-day this past week. He’s 31.

Powell is a valuable offensive player right now and may defy the odds, but Portland also overreached on the years when re-signing him this past summer; there’s a reason teams weren’t falling all over themselves to get that contract.

LeVert, meanwhile, is signed for just this year and next. That seems almost too brief, right? But the issue here is the convenient fact that LeVert’s and Kevin Love’s contracts both expire in the summer of 2023. Because of that, the Cavs retain an opportunity to add a max-ish contract with cap space before Evan Mobley is due for an extension, even with Jarrett Allen signed for $20 million a year and Darius Garland presumably getting a big chunk of change this coming summer.

Maybe it doesn’t come to fruition — Cleveland has struggled to lure free agents who weren’t locally born generational talents — but the doorway is still open. (Speaking of which: Did you know who is a free agent in 2023? I’ll just step aside here while you burn down the comments section.)

Back in the real world, LeVert also fits Cleveland’s roster better than Powell, for the simple reason that he is much more of a threat on the ball. With Rubio and Collin Sexton out for the season, the Cavs desperately needed somebody, anybody, who could make a play on the perimeter and get the ball to their dominant bigs.

This became particularly glaring any time Garland checked out; since Rubio’s season-ending ACL injury, the Cavs score 111.8 points per 100 possessions with Garland on the court and 103.0 with him off. Those numbers were even with J.B. Bickerstaff setting his rotation so that the Kevin Love pick-and-pop renaissance tour could prop up Cleveland’s wobbly bench units.

So now, problem solved … sort of. The downside is that Cleveland needed an initiator in the worst way … and LeVert is an initiator in the worst way. This is the part where Cavs fans might more justifiably get into the weeds on whether the assets given up were worth it. LeVert is an iffy-at-best defender, a subpar shooter (33.4 percent career) and, shall we say, a rather reluctant ball mover. Love’s pick-and-pops may turn into pick-and-watches.

However, LeVert is undeniably a player who can generate a ton of halfway decent shots for a team that has trouble with shot creation. His value as a floor raiser for Cleveland’s second units could be significant, not to mention as a closer with the starters — especially in the playoffs when opponents likely will go kitchen sink on Garland. On-ball shot creation, incidentally, is the thing Powell can’t do, so one can argue for LeVert’s fit here much more forcefully than one could with the Clippers.

LeVert’s contract, which is only $300,000 less than Rubio’s, has no tangible impact this year. (Speaking of which, Cleveland also gets a $300,000 trade exception. Don’t spend it all in one place, fellas.) LeVert’s contract adds $18.9 million next year, which is more than he’s worth, but the Cavs were $40 million below next year’s projected tax line.

LeVert being signed for next year also adds another layer to the Cavs’ offseason. Cleveland now has both enough wiggle room left to re-sign Sexton to a fair deal and stay below the tax … and enough of a backup plan to let him walk if the numbers get too high. With 12 players already signed for next year, Cleveland could feel pretty good about using its non-taxpayer midlevel exception on another guard, adding a cheap veteran wing, and calling it a day.

So, the last thing left to talk about is the assets surrendered. One can argue Cleveland overpaid here: The Cavs gave up their own first-round pick (likely to land in the low 20s), swapped Houston’s 2022 second for Miami’s (likely moving down 20 or more spots, from the low 30s to the mid-50s) and gave up Utah’s 2027 second-rounder.

The first-round pick here seems fairly equivalent in value to the player surrendered by the Clippers in the Powell trade (Keon Johnson), albeit with much greater flexibility since it hasn’t been used yet — picks decline in value once they’re driven off the lot.

However, normally that Houston pick would be a pretty valuable thing to throw in on top of the first-round pick they already surrendered — by itself, it’s an almost-first-rounder. On strict book value, Cleveland almost certainly overpaid.

Here’s where we get to another interesting twist that I’m wondering about as we get closer to June: There is a growing consensus that this draft stinks. There are four players everyone really likes, and after that a morass of guesswork and kinda-maybe guys. Who knows, maybe it’s the evaluators who are wrong and everything turns out fine. But nobody is comparing this crop to 2018’s haul, let’s put it that way.

Thus, the overall takeaway from Cleveland’s end is that it probably overpaid a bit to get an imperfect player, but one whose contract and roster fit was pretty close to ideal for their situation.

Now that I’m 1,210 words into this, I should probably talk about the other team in the trade. Indiana made out very well here, much better than I expected for a player who can carry an offense at times but is often incredibly frustrating.

Yes, this draft isn’t great, but Indy just turned a mildly overpaid player into picks in the 20s and 30s. The Pacers also dropped money for next year and now are looking at having about $20 million in cap room depending on where their own first-round pick lands. Obviously, trading LeVert points toward “looking at the young guys” for the remainder of this season. I wouldn’t expect the Pacers to rush Myles Turner and T.J. Warren back from injury, and Domantas Sabonis may have some “DNP-rest” in his future.

The Pacers’ history is that they’ve basically never tanked, but wow, is this an opportunity. Indiana has the league’s fifth-worst record right now. Since they aren’t chasing the shiny bauble of a 10th-place finish like the six teams in the West cellar, the Pacers have a great opportunity to land in the top three – ‘scuse me, bottom three – and thus increase their lottery odds significantly. I dumped on this draft above, but the top four is a different story. That’s where you want to be this year.

Overall, I get why both teams did this. While I like Indiana’s end of the deal better than Cleveland’s, I can’t deny the Cavs are a more threatening playoff opponent today than they were yesterday, and they’re unlikely to rue the day they gave up the 23rd pick or whatever. But for fans pondering the bigger picture of how this trade differs from the earlier deal for Powell, remember: It’s always about the contracts.

Translation: Win/win

I really think that a lot of the pundits are way off in their evaluation of this trade for both sides.

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I have to assume one stat in that article is wrong; LaVert isn't really a 33.4% career shooter is he? I don't think he'd still be in the NBA if he were. Maybe 43.4% Maybe 33.4 on 3's?