NBA Trade Idea Pairs Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell With $94 Million Sharpshooter
The Cleveland Cavaliers were projected to compete for the championship this year after racking up the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers swept the Miami Heat in the first round of this year’s playoffs, setting up a clash with the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.
Indiana won Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland, but the Cavaliers responded by winning Game 3 on the road. It appeared Kenny Atkinson’s group had some momentum.
However, the Pacers won Games 4 and 5, ending the Cavaliers’ season. Cleveland has yet to advance past the second round of the playoffs in the Donovan Mitchell era, which began in 2022.
Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report believes the Cavaliers should shake up their core this offseason by trading Jarrett Allen, Jaylon Tyson and a 2031 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cameron Johnson.
Allen began his career with the Nets in 2017 before getting traded to the Cavaliers in 2021.
“Another postseason disappointment, this one coming in the wake of a 64-win regular season, could spur the Cavaliers to reorient the roster around Evan Mobley as the full-time center. That’d mean moving on from Allen, replacing him with a capable frontcourt shooter and scorer in Johnson,” Hughes wrote.
“On a pure talent basis, Allen and Johnson are pretty comparable. The former, two years younger, owns career averages of 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds. The latter is a career 39.2 percent shooter from deep and just finished up a season marked by a personal-best 18.8 points per game.”
