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It’s been a frustrating off-season for the Cleveland Cavaliers — or perhaps it was. They lost starting small forward Dean Wade in free agency to the Philadelphia 76ers, and then waited nearly a month for LeBron James to follow him there.
While the rest of the Eastern Conference was improving, the Cavs were mostly sitting idle. That changed this past week as Cleveland sent Dennis Schroder to the Charlotte Hornets to free up cap space, and then traded Max Strus, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, and a second-rounder for Peyton Watson and Cam Whitmore.
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After a month and a half of waiting, the Cavs have finally made their big move — one that could vault them back into the title conversation.
First, we’ll start with what the Cavs gave up.
The 2031 first-rounder is valuable both as a trade chip and as a useable asset.
The lottery reform starting next season doesn’t reward tanking as it has for the past several decades. Instead, nearly missing the playoffs (not as a play-in team) gives you a better chance of landing the first overall pick than having the worst record in the league. Additionally, all lottery picks will be drawn instead of just the top four. We don’t know where the Cavs will be in 2031, but there’s a chance that could be a valuable top-five pick even if they don’t bottom out.
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More than that, there’s an opportunity cost with trading away this pick. The 2031 pick was the first one they could trade away, considering the 2027 and 2029 picks are still owed to the Utah Jazz from the Donovan Mitchell trade. Now, the only first the Cavs can move for the next two seasons is their 2033 selection. And considering how far into the future that is, and how their team is aging, it’d be unwise to do so. That 2031 first was essentially the last first-rounder Cleveland could trade away to help boost this core.
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There’s an on-court cost to this as well.
Losing Strus will hurt….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cavs-trade-grade-cleveland-finally-032442590.html
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Publish date : 2026-08-20 03:24:00
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