Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 roster moves they must make in the coming offseason

4. Trade Dante Exum

Dante Exum was the player the Cavaliers got in return for Jordan Clarkson in their midseason trade with the Utah Jazz. Exum was taken with the fifth pick in the 2014 draft and has struggled with injury ever since.

This did not stop the Jazz from giving the Aussie a three-year, $33 million contract prior to last season. This is the issue for the Cavaliers, he is owed $9.6 million next season and is simply not producing numbers that can back this up.

In the 24 games that he played for the Cavs last season, Exum averaged 5.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. These numbers are not too different from his career averages of 5.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

The players paid at a similar level in free agency are Tony Snell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Lonzo Ball amongst others. All of these players could provide greater benefit to the Cavaliers than Exum who struggles to play out a season due to his body.

If the Cavaliers get his contract off the books, they can move their rebuild ahead of schedule. They can do this in the current free agency period by getting one or two mid-level free agents locked up for a number of years for the same value as Exum’s contract.