Cleveland Cavaliers: Predicting 3 players who won’t be around in 2018

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images /
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Cleveland Cavaliers
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images /

By this time next year, these three Cleveland Cavaliers players will be donning new jerseys as members of different teams.

Even with their “contender” status still intact, the Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t been immune to speculation regarding their future in recent months. They’re facing some potential departures in 2018 that could cost this franchise its ability to compete in the coming years.

Instead of shying away from said speculation, though, I’m embracing it. Doing so has become a specialty of mine recently, so why not keep the party going by looking at a few big names the Cavaliers could be without by this time next year?

For the purposes of this exercise, I left out any players scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in 2018. That means there will be no Channing Frye, Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose or any of the other players in contract years on this list. It’s almost too easy to “predict” someone being gone if their contract is expiring, right? Everyone else on the Cleveland roster is fair game, though.

I included a number of factors in the equation when determining which names would be on this list. However, when it all came down to it, these players all seemed to be the most likely current Cavaliers calling somewhere else home in 2018.

Related Story: Cavs' wildly ambitious FA targets in next 3 years

So here they are — the three noteworthy Cavaliers players who won’t be around in 2018. These predictions may not be well received by everyone, but I promise that wasn’t one of my concerns when putting this list together.