Biggest winners and losers of the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline

Winner: Cleveland Cavaliers

We start with the most active team at this year’s deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Simply put, GM Koby Altman was faced with an impossible task of putting a better team around LeBron James while simultaneously bracing for life without him in the future. He got as close to pulling it off as anyone could ask for with the Lakers trade and then a separate three-team deal.

It’s been tough sailing for the Cavs lately. They’re only third in the East, have lost 14 of their last 22 games and are one of the worst defenses in the league.

Isaiah Thomas, long seen as the potential savior for the season, was an unmitigated disaster. In his 15 games on the court, Cleveland went 7-8. Since his debut on Jan. 2, the Cavaliers plummeted from a defensive rating of 108.6 (which already ranked 28th in the league) to a disastrous 112.4 (ranked 29th).

Over the last few weeks, the Cavs coughed up a 22-point lead against the Indiana Pacers; gave up 148 points to the Oklahoma City Thunder; saw a 21-point lead against the lowly Orlando Magic turn into an 18-point loss; and got pounded by 32 against the Houston Rockets.

It was clear this group wasn’t working, so gone are Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, Derrick Rose and even Dwyane Wade. In come Rodney Hood, George Hill, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.

It cost the Cavs their 2018 first-rounder, but that’ll land somewhere in the mid-20s. Cleveland kept its most valuable asset in the 2018 Brooklyn Nets pick and still managed to get younger, more athletic and better overall.

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If LeBron stays, it’ll be because this roster overhaul makes Cleveland a better defensive team. Hood can lock down the perimeter and spread the floor from 3-point range, either as a sixth man or as a starter who relegates a struggling J.R. Smith to the bench.

Hill has been awful this season defensively, but is one season removed from a career year and should put in better effort on a contender. Clarkson is a decent young bench scorer, while Nance will provide energy, effort and defensive versatility to the 4-spot, especially with Kevin Love sidelined.

If LeBron leaves, Clarkson is on the books through 2019-20, Nance doesn’t hit restricted free agency until 2019, only $1 million of Hill’s salary is guaranteed for 2019-20 and Hood, a restricted free agent this summer, could potentially be retained.

It comes at a cost, of course. This is an expensive team, and it will approach stupid amounts of expensive should LeBron decided to stay. Per ESPN‘s Bobby Marks, the Cavs could be looking at more than $150 million in salary if the King returns, with a luxury tax bill near $100 million. That’s only worth paying for if this new core proves itself as a legitimate title contender.

However, with the face of the NBA hitting free agency this summer, Altman had to do something to improve a group that was stuck in the mud and had given up on each other. These moves accomplish that, while also getting younger and bracing for a potential future without LeBron.

These new-look Cavs have to unite fast. They may not be a threat to the Golden State Warriors or even win the East. But this is about as good as Cleveland could have realistically done given their salary cap situation and the ugly cloud that’s hung over the locker room for months now.