Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 potential trades involving No. 5 pick

3. Atlanta Hawks

The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t the only team to fall deeper in the draft order than they had hoped. Cleveland came into the lottery with the highest chances of landing the No. 1 pick but fell to the fifth slot.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks had less than a 10 percent chance of falling past the seventh pick, but are slotted to select eighth overall.

Because of this, it is likely that the Hawks will be willing to trade up and give themselves a better chance at drafting a suitable player for their rebuild. Atlanta has hit the ground running in their rebuild process with their recent selections of Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter.

All three are among the most promising young stars in the league.

The Hawks have a solid young core in place. This should motivate them to make a push and attempt to acquire Jordan Clarkson and the No. 5 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft from Cleveland in exchange for Miles Plumlee, the No. 8 pick and a future 2020 First Round pick.

This deal would help Atlanta find a suitable wing player to round out their lineup. A chance at drafting players such as Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter or Jarrett Culver is well worth the price of Plumlee and two picks.

As for the Cavaliers, this trade allows them to consider taking a bigger risk in the upcoming draft. Selecting a questionable player such as Bol Bol or Brandon Clarke isn’t as risky if they got something in return and the selection is coming at the eighth spot in the draft.

Furthermore, acquiring another first-round pick for next season could prove to be big if the lottery is as unpredictable as it was this year.