Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> addressed their backcourt depth and reduced their luxury-tax burden Saturday night, agreeing to a three-team trade that sends forward De\u2019Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings and brings guards Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis to Cleveland, according to NBA insider Shams Charania.<\/p>\nThe Chicago Bulls are also part of the deal, acquiring forward Dario Saric and two future second-round draft picks from Sacramento to complete the trade structure.<\/p>\n
The move allows the Cavaliers to convert Hunter\u2019s contract into two guards and some measure of financial flexibility going into next season.<\/p>\n
Schroder, a 13-year veteran, is averaging 12.8 points and 5.3 assists this season after signing with the Kings in the offseason. He is expected to provide Cleveland with an experienced ballhandler capable of stabilizing the second unit and offering insurance at point guard.<\/p>\n
Ellis, 26, is regarded as one of the league\u2019s stronger perimeter defenders. He is averaging 5.6 points this season, ranking among NBA leaders in steals and blocks per 36 minutes. Ellis is on an expiring contract and becomes eligible for an extension on Feb. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In moving Hunter, the Cavaliers are expected to save approximately $50 million in combined salary and luxury-tax payments this season, a reduction that positions the club more favorably as it navigates the league\u2019s second tax apron in future years.<\/p>\n
Hunter, 28, averaged 14.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 43 games with Cleveland this season, but has struggled with offensive consistency and fit in Kenny Atkinson’s offensive system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He joined the Cavaliers last year after spending the first five seasons of his career with Atlanta and is under contract through the 2026\u201327 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The trade was reported Saturday night and had not yet been formally announced by the teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 3-team deal will send guards Dennis Schreoder and Keon Ellis to the Cavs in exchange for forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-158813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}