Amidst arguably the most disappointing season in recent memory, the Cleveland Cavaliers are at a tipping point with the NBA trade deadline right around the corner. Even with very limited mobility due to their bloated salary sheet and constrained draft capital control, there are some options. Namely, moving a big salary to get under the dreaded second apron.
Say, De’Andre Hunter?
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According to Matt Moore’s Substack, Hardwood Paroxysm, there is “a lot of smoke” that Hunter, and/or his representatives at Klutch Sports, would welcome an opportunity to play elsewhere. And, ideally, there is a client-for-client swap — such as Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura headed back to Cleveland.
The Cavs’ big swing last year was the acquisition of Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks, and two pick swaps. It was what many felt was the missing piece for a team that has struggled to find a steady small forward, but that has crumbled here in Hunter’s second season in Cleveland.
Hunter is having a very poor campaign, shooting just 42.7% from the floor (worst since his rookie season) and 30.6% from deep (a career-worst) while continuing to be a deceptively below-average defender. Head coach Kenny Atkinson described it as a “prolonged batting slump” following Monday night’s humiliating loss to the Utah Jazz.
“It’s part of my job to help him,” Atkinson said. “He’ll snap out of it, he’s too good of a player.”
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The Cavs certainly hope he busts the slump while still wearing wine and gold, but the pathway to moving on from Hunter is a tricky one. As the most expensive team in the league, the Cavs are saddled with the second-apron limitations, meaning they are limited in changing the roster. Cleveland cannot send out multiple players in one deal while staying over the apron, meaning they can only take back players making $23.3 million or less this season.
Chris Fedor of cleveland.com says the Cavs have not engaged in any meaningful trade discussions surrounding Hunter, and have declined to advance talks with one team that made an offer for the former Virginia product. Fedor also says the Cavs have a desire to try and make this roster work, which is of course, the ideal scenario in all of this. The question will be if the Cavs determine over the rest of the month that they can more comfortably stay down that path, or if they need to pull the plug and soft rebuild.
Ripping up the roster is considerably more feasible in the summer when the team can get off of several contracts, including Lonzo Ball’s $9 million team option next season, and out of the second apron. That makes it much easier to trade bigger contracts, get multiple players back, and launch a medium-scale retooling around Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley (who remain the most untouchable of the Cavs’ assets).
With the season halfway gone, waiting around to see if Hunter figures it out may be a fool’s errand. Atkinson has pulled many levers and changed the lineups and rotations several times over to try and figure it out. He admitted as much that “nothing has clicked” with Hunter no matter where he plays.
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Perhaps it is time to pull the plug, launch a mid-season retooling, and try to get a little further away from the second apron. It is hard to see things changing dramatically before the trade deadline.