The Cavaliers turned down a chance to draft Luka Doncic, per report
The Cavaliers turned down a chance to draft Luka Doncic, per report
First thanks for reading my posts! Would be great if you join my steemtalk channel on discord, where you can talk to steemians and exchange your experience with this wonderful platform https://discord.gg/GTdw2Pt
All it would have cost Cleveland is the No. 8 pick...and some cap space
The Cleveland Cavaliers had the opportunity to add Euroleague MVP Luka Doncic at the 2018 NBA Draft, at the cost of their No. 8 pick, matching salary necessary to absorb Kent Bazemore’s bloated contract, and perhaps another asset. But the Cavaliers passed because they wanted to draft Collin Sexton.
Cleveland Plain-Dealer NBA scribe Joe Vardon reported the Atlanta Hawks contacted Cavaliers management on draft night with an offer: a package centered around Bazemore and the No. 3 pick in exchange for Cleveland’s first-round selection.
A source said the Cavs were offered on draft night the chance to trade up to No. 3 with the Hawks in a deal that would’ve sent Kent Bazemore to Cleveland. Instead, Atlanta swapped spots with No. 5 Dallas, and the Mavericks ended up with Luka Doncic while the Hawks landed Trae Young.
Cleveland wanted Sexton and held firm at No. 8. Again, it’s very, very, very early, but the Cavs have every reason to be pleased with their pick. No one drafted ahead of Sexton is averaging more points per game in Vegas than him.
The move would have required some tricky mathematics to pull off. The Cavs would have had to match the $18 million in salary owed to Bazemore in 2018-19 without sending any expensive long term contracts back to Atlanta, who is in the middle of a rebuild. Instead, Cleveland sweated out draft night and walked away with Alabama’s Sexton, the player it had targeted all along.
Why would this deal have made sense
At the time, the Cavaliers were in LeBron James limbo. The four-time MVP hadn’t yet decided to opt for free agency, and adding playmakers to his supporting cast was:
a) important, since the team had just been swept out of the NBA Finals, and
b) extremely difficult, since the team was also well into the luxury tax.
Mid-level exception aside, the easiest way for Cleveland to add talent this offseason was through the draft. A deal with Atlanta would have offered not only a player considered by many to be 2018’s top prospect, but also a useful veteran 3-and-D wing with playoff experience.
Bringing in Doncic and Bazemore might have helped make the club a more attractive setting for James, who eventually opted out of his contract and signed a four-year deal with the Lakers. It also would have kept some extra talent on the books if he left: a George Hill-Kent Bazemore-Kyle Korver-Luka Doncic-Kevin Love lineup would give the club an rangy starting five that could shoot its way back to the playoffs in 2019. (Its defense would be, uh, interesting).
The Hawks, on the other hand, would have received some cap relief and their point guard of the future in exchange for a hyped prospect in whom they had little interest. Atlanta wasn’t enamored with Doncic, as evidenced by the eventual deal they made with Dallas to slide back from No. 3 to No. 5. Moving back to No. 8 would have given the team the opportunity to select either Young or Sexton, giving the team a blue chip floor general either way. It also would have cleared the final year and $19.2 million of Bazemore’s contract from their books — opening up more than $60m in practical cap space for a solid class of 2019 free agents.
Why didn’t this deal make sense
There had to be more than just three moving parts — two picks and Bazemore — to the offer. The Cavaliers only have a shade over $6m in expiring contracts (Larry Nance Jr., Okaro White, the immortal Kendrick Perkins) they could have sent back to Atlanta, which means they’d have to find another $12 million in matching deals to facilitate a deal that brought back Bazemore. Since that likely wouldn’t include any longer-term money — Bazemore was only signed through 2020 — it’s tough to see how Cleveland would make the financials work.
Could a sign and trade involving a one-year contract with restricted free agent Rodney Hood have been the answer? (All sign-and-trades need to be three-year contracts or longer, but Cleveland could have made the final two years of Hood’s deal fully ungaranteed). Would Hood have bought in knowing a year in basketball limbo loomed? Would the Cavs had to throw in future draft considerations to sweeten the pot? There are a lot of moving parts here, and it seems as though the deal was squashed before it could even reach that stage.
While the trade would have brought a couple solid talents to Ohio, it’s a tougher pill for the Hawks to swallow. Atlanta wound up with a much better deal involving the No. 3 pick when they shipped it to Dallas in exchange for the No. 5 and the Mavericks’ top-five protected 2019 first-round pick. With another year to move a useful, if expensive, player like Bazemore, there was no immediate pressure to push the reported Cavaliers trade. Instead, the team’s patience paid off with an asset that could prove more useful than cap space — especially for a bottoming-out team that isn’t exactly a mecca for NBA talent.
So another team passed on Luka?
It sure seems that way. The Suns took DeAndre Ayton. The Kings took Marvin Bagley. The Hawks traded down to draft Young. Now, we know the Cavaliers reportedly declined the opportunity to move up for Doncic.
Despite his accolades, Doncic became the most divisive prospect at the top of the draft. His work in the Euroleague screams star, but concerns about his game translating from Europe to the NBA took him out of the discussion for first overall pick and somehow put both the Hawks and the Cavaliers in positions where they decided to pass on his potential.
There’s more to this rumored trade than meets the eye, but we’ll see if turning down a deal for Doncic comes back to haunt Cleveland over the next decade-plus.
All it would have cost Cleveland is the No. 8 pick...and some cap space
The Cleveland Cavaliers had the opportunity to add Euroleague MVP Luka Doncic at the 2018 NBA Draft, at the cost of their No. 8 pick, matching salary necessary to absorb Kent Bazemore’s bloated contract, and perhaps another asset. But the Cavaliers passed because they wanted to draft Collin Sexton.
Cleveland Plain-Dealer NBA scribe Joe Vardon reported the Atlanta Hawks contacted Cavaliers management on draft night with an offer: a package centered around Bazemore and the No. 3 pick in exchange for Cleveland’s first-round selection.
A source said the Cavs were offered on draft night the chance to trade up to No. 3 with the Hawks in a deal that would’ve sent Kent Bazemore to Cleveland. Instead, Atlanta swapped spots with No. 5 Dallas, and the Mavericks ended up with Luka Doncic while the Hawks landed Trae Young.
Cleveland wanted Sexton and held firm at No. 8. Again, it’s very, very, very early, but the Cavs have every reason to be pleased with their pick. No one drafted ahead of Sexton is averaging more points per game in Vegas than him.
The move would have required some tricky mathematics to pull off. The Cavs would have had to match the $18 million in salary owed to Bazemore in 2018-19 without sending any expensive long term contracts back to Atlanta, who is in the middle of a rebuild. Instead, Cleveland sweated out draft night and walked away with Alabama’s Sexton, the player it had targeted all along.
Why would this deal have made sense
At the time, the Cavaliers were in LeBron James limbo. The four-time MVP hadn’t yet decided to opt for free agency, and adding playmakers to his supporting cast was:
a) important, since the team had just been swept out of the NBA Finals, and
b) extremely difficult, since the team was also well into the luxury tax.
Mid-level exception aside, the easiest way for Cleveland to add talent this offseason was through the draft. A deal with Atlanta would have offered not only a player considered by many to be 2018’s top prospect, but also a useful veteran 3-and-D wing with playoff experience.
Bringing in Doncic and Bazemore might have helped make the club a more attractive setting for James, who eventually opted out of his contract and signed a four-year deal with the Lakers. It also would have kept some extra talent on the books if he left: a George Hill-Kent Bazemore-Kyle Korver-Luka Doncic-Kevin Love lineup would give the club an rangy starting five that could shoot its way back to the playoffs in 2019. (Its defense would be, uh, interesting).
The Hawks, on the other hand, would have received some cap relief and their point guard of the future in exchange for a hyped prospect in whom they had little interest. Atlanta wasn’t enamored with Doncic, as evidenced by the eventual deal they made with Dallas to slide back from No. 3 to No. 5. Moving back to No. 8 would have given the team the opportunity to select either Young or Sexton, giving the team a blue chip floor general either way. It also would have cleared the final year and $19.2 million of Bazemore’s contract from their books — opening up more than $60m in practical cap space for a solid class of 2019 free agents.
Why didn’t this deal make sense
There had to be more than just three moving parts — two picks and Bazemore — to the offer. The Cavaliers only have a shade over $6m in expiring contracts (Larry Nance Jr., Okaro White, the immortal Kendrick Perkins) they could have sent back to Atlanta, which means they’d have to find another $12 million in matching deals to facilitate a deal that brought back Bazemore. Since that likely wouldn’t include any longer-term money — Bazemore was only signed through 2020 — it’s tough to see how Cleveland would make the financials work.
Could a sign and trade involving a one-year contract with restricted free agent Rodney Hood have been the answer? (All sign-and-trades need to be three-year contracts or longer, but Cleveland could have made the final two years of Hood’s deal fully ungaranteed). Would Hood have bought in knowing a year in basketball limbo loomed? Would the Cavs had to throw in future draft considerations to sweeten the pot? There are a lot of moving parts here, and it seems as though the deal was squashed before it could even reach that stage.
While the trade would have brought a couple solid talents to Ohio, it’s a tougher pill for the Hawks to swallow. Atlanta wound up with a much better deal involving the No. 3 pick when they shipped it to Dallas in exchange for the No. 5 and the Mavericks’ top-five protected 2019 first-round pick. With another year to move a useful, if expensive, player like Bazemore, there was no immediate pressure to push the reported Cavaliers trade. Instead, the team’s patience paid off with an asset that could prove more useful than cap space — especially for a bottoming-out team that isn’t exactly a mecca for NBA talent.
So another team passed on Luka?
It sure seems that way. The Suns took DeAndre Ayton. The Kings took Marvin Bagley. The Hawks traded down to draft Young. Now, we know the Cavaliers reportedly declined the opportunity to move up for Doncic.
Despite his accolades, Doncic became the most divisive prospect at the top of the draft. His work in the Euroleague screams star, but concerns about his game translating from Europe to the NBA took him out of the discussion for first overall pick and somehow put both the Hawks and the Cavaliers in positions where they decided to pass on his potential.
There’s more to this rumored trade than meets the eye, but we’ll see if turning down a deal for Doncic comes back to haunt Cleveland over the next decade-plus.
PLEASE RESTEEM, UPVOTE AND COMMENT MY POSTS! I WILL UPVOTE BACK!
This user is on the @buildawhale blacklist for one or more of the following reasons: