Analyst Makes Case for Cavaliers To Trade Former First Round Pick

The Cleveland Cavaliers have an interesting offseason ahead.

The front office doesn’t have to break up its roster to be a championship contender next season, but it could make a couple of moves to give itself flexibility moving forward.

As it stands, the Cavaliers will have a payroll that qualifies them as a second-apron team heading into next season.

Sam Quinn of CBS Sports believes the Cavaliers could trade Isaac Okoro to give themselves a better chance of re-signing one or both of their key free agents this summer.

“Cleveland is already far beyond next year’s projected second apron, and that’s before potentially re-signing Ty Jerome and/or Sam Merrill,” wrote Quinn.

“The Cavaliers will look to save money somewhere, and Okoro’s playoff disappointments make him an obvious dump candidate.”

Cleveland drafted Okoro with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft. He had high potential as a 3-and-D type player, and he has largely developed into that player.

Ice shot a career-high 37.5 percent from behind the arc and recorded a defensive rating of 115 last season.

However, the Cavaliers already have players ahead of him on the depth chart, and his streaky shooting could be seen as a liability, too.

If Cleveland is motivated to bring back Jerome or Merrill and give themselves a chance to stay out of the second apron, then it would make sense for the front office to trade Okoro for a future draft pick to shed some payroll.

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