NBA trade grades: Pistons trade Andre Drummond to Cavaliers for Knight and Henson
By Duncan Smith
NBA trade grades: Cleveland Cavaliers
This is an odd trade for the Cavs to make. Bringing Drummond into the fold itself isn’t so strange, but doing so while not moving either Kevin Love or Tristan Thompson remains puzzling.
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Obviously playing the three of them together is a non-starter, so it stands to reason that Drummond and Love will start together while Thompson will be the first big off the bench.
The Cavaliers will likely seek to recruit Drummond’s services for a period longer than this semi-rental. Given the dearth of cap space around the NBA next summer, he’s likely to opt into his 2020-21 salary and the Cavs will hope to entice him to re-sign long term.
Of course, on the other hand, the Cavs gave up close to nothing to get him in the first place, so if Drummond walks, no big deal.
Drummond is the NBA’s leading rebounder once again and averages 17.8 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.
While the fit and ultimate goal of this deal is confounding, the low low price of two expiring contracts and a distant future second-round pick make this a can’t-fail trade.
Not great, but fine, and no significant downside. Even if it doesn’t work out, there’s no real loss for the Cleveland Cavaliers at this point.