How the Cleveland Cavaliers won big at the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a few great moves at the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline. Here’s a breakdown of what they accomplished.

The NBA trade deadline is an important date for all 30 teams. This is the where teams can make big moves to either support their upcoming playoff run or aid in their ongoing rebuild. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, they made solid strides towards creating a successful future.

The 2018-19 season has been anything but kind to the Cavaliers. It took only three games for their only All-Star, Kevin Love, to be injured and sidelined for the foreseeable future. To worsen the damage, injuries to Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood, Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. all played a role in making the Cavs one of the worst teams in the league.

There aren’t many reasons to feel optimistic about this team. Collin Sexton has been a top-tier rookie, but it is becoming increasingly clear that he has a long way to go before being a star. His game is raw and unpolished, meaning it will take some time for him to finish developing.

However, this season hasn’t been a complete failure. Cleveland had a ton of expendable assets it was prepared to move in the event the season went down this path. While they didn’t manage to trade everybody they would’ve hoped to, they definitely made a few big moves.

Some of these trades came a bit before the deadline. For example, a trade in December found the Cavaliers gaining both Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson as well as two future draft picks. In order to make this work, Cleveland gave up George Hill, Sam Dekker and a second round pick. This was the second trade of the season for the Cavs, and it was deemed a good one.

The first trade that Cleveland made came all the way back in November, when they sent Kyle Korver to the Utah Jazz in return for Alec Burks and two draft picks. One of these picks ended up being sent to Washington in the trade mentioned above.

Both of these trades were great moves for the Cavaliers. In each exchange, they gave up a player who wasn’t important to the rebuild and acquired assets that will help the franchise in the long run.

Then, the Cavaliers decided to really make some noise right before the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline. It began when they traded Rodney Hood to the Portland Trail Blazers for Wade Baldwin IV, Nik Stauskas and two future draft picks. This was a significant move for the Cavs, as Hood was one of the team’s leading scorers, but it opened up a path to make another trade.

Using the players acquired in the Portland trade, Cleveland managed to acquire Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss and a 2019 lottery-protected first round pick from the Houston Rockets. In this deal, Cleveland also sent Alec Burks to the Sacramento Kings while the Kings dealt Iman Shumpert to the Rockets.

As you can see, the Cavaliers were creative in using assets recently acquired in previous trades to create new proposals. In total, the front office made four trades and stockpiled two first round picks and six second round picks.

This should go down as a very successful deadline for Cleveland. They dealt a number of players that would not be needed in the future and collected multiple draft picks to help them build for the new era.