3. Cleveland Cavaliers

There were some reports linking the Cleveland Cavaliers to Josh Hart during the offseason. They were one of the teams reportedly interested in acquiring him via sign-and-trade, but he ultimately ended up re-signing to remain with the New Orleans Pelicans. But, should he become available, the Cavaliers should look into acquiring him.

Cleveland is off to a strong 7-4 start this season, but they just lost starting guard Collin Sexton to a torn meniscus in his left knee. Sexton is out indefinitely and the team could use some depth in the backcourt now as a result.

Ricky Rubio could step into a starting role alongside Darius Garland, but he has been playing so well with the second unit they likely don’t want to disrupt anything. Hart isn’t the scorer that Sexton is, but he would provide a lot of help in areas the Cleveland Cavaliers are lacking in.

Cleveland, despite a starting lineup with Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen when healthy, is not a great rebounding team. They are third to last in defensive rebounding percentage, something Hart would help in as he is one of the best rebounding guards in the NBA.

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Cleveland is also middle of the road in 3-point percentage and defensive rating. Those are two of the strengths in Hart’s game this season and he would help improve both statistics.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the bigger surprises this season. To maintain that, they need some complementary help and Josh Hart would be a perfect target to accomplish that.