Cleveland Cavaliers
Losing both Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio for the season due to knee injuries has hit the Cleveland Cavaliers hard, yet this team has still managed to win games and look like one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently 30-20 on the season, currently tied with the Milwaukee Bucks, who they recently beat 115-99, for the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference.
They may be young and not have as much depth as other top teams in the league, but the Cavaliers are a legit threat this season and given how well they play defensively, they can match up against any team in this league.
For the Cleveland Cavaliers to take the next step though and be a real title threat, they are going to need a few more offensive weapons. Maybe they will ultimately decide to keep Collin Sexton long-term in the offseason, but this should not stop them from pursuing CJ McCollum should the Portland Trail Blazers show a willingness to field trade offers on him over the next week or so.
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Being right near the tax line on the season, the Cavaliers would definitely have a hard time taking on a $30M+ contract like that of McCollum’s, but it is possible if Cleveland can move Ricky Rubio.
Out for the year with an ACL injury, Rubio is making $17.8M in the final year of his contract. Moving this salary is a direct path to the Cavaliers being able to add the little bit of talent that they so desperately need ahead of the trade deadline this season.
Along with trading Ricky Rubio, the Cleveland Cavaliers could package some young talents on the wing like Isaac Okoro and Cedi Osman to all of a sudden have a trade package that adds up to about $32.6M in outgoing salaries, close to an exact match of CJ McCollum’s $30.8M contract.
Osman has been a wing drawing some trade interest in recent weeks around the league, so it is possible that a third or forth team could get involved in this trade, resulting in Osman going somewhere else and being absorbed using a trade exception.
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A deal centered around Rubio, Okoro and Osman could certainly be intriguing enough for the Blazers to think about, but they would have to be receiving a vast amount of draft assets in this deal. The Cleveland Cavaliers do have a first-round pick every year through 2028, as well as five second-round picks through 2024, giving them options on what to include in an offer for McCollum.
