Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished with a regular season record of 19-63. It marked the franchise’s worst finish since the 2010-11 season. Coincidentally, both seasons marked eras in which LeBron James was not apart of their success- or lack of.
On Monday, the Cavaliers started what could be the very beginning of their upcoming rebuild. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Cleveland shipped out Jordan Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum, the 2022 San Antonio Spurs second round pick, and the 2023 Golden State Warriors second round pick.
This trade makes sense for the Cavaliers in all the right ways, as the team will create a $3.83M trade exception. In addition, they will go from $1.3M to $5.1M below the luxury tax.
This trade ends the “NBA drought”, as no trades had previously taken place since the Houston Rockets dealt Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook on July 11th.
This may be the first of multiple moves for Cleveland, as the team is eyeing the possibility of adding young assets and draft picks.
For quite some time, the Cavaliers have explored the possibility of trading away Kevin Love. In the summer of 2018, the 12-year veteran inked a four-year, $120M extension. According to reports, it has been increasingly difficult for Cleveland to find a trade partner willing to take on Love’s contract.
There are endless moving parts, but the Cleveland Cavaliers could be hitting the reset button by the Trade Deadline in February. With the entire roster virtually on the trade block, contenders are expected to take a look at potential moves to be made.
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