Cavaliers acquire Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroeder from Kings

   The Cleveland Cavaliers had been a disappointment this season but had improved of late, winning eight of their last ten games, including a five-game winning streak before a loss in Phoenix on the first day of a five-stop West Coast road swing.

Still, with the team tied for fourth with Toronto for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and with a recent calf injury to Evan Mobley (the second this season), Cleveland seemed like a possible player at the NBA trade deadline, even if their status as a "second-apron" team at the salary cap could make a trade harder to make.

Cleveland found a way to make things work as they sent swingman De'Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings and a 2027 second-round draft choice to the Chicago Bulls (for their help in making the dollars work) for guards Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder.

Cleveland released Luke Travers to free up a roster spot for the new arrivals.

Hunter was the Cavaliers' big deadline acquisition last season, and while he was decent after coming to Cleveland, I thought that with training camp and a better understanding of his teammates, Hunter would break out.

I was wrong, as despite Hunter averaging fourteen points last season and this season, Hunter's shooting has been dreadful, dropping in percentage from 48 percent to 42 overall and from 42 percent down to 30 percent from three point range.

Still, Hunter was excellent last season with Atlanta before being traded to Cleveland, and I'd bet he turns it around with the Kings.

Hunter could be one of those players who play better for a lesser team than he does for a contender, because he is better suited to be one of the focal points of the offense than as a supporting cast member.

Sacramento is doing some cleaning of its own, and Hunter could become one of their top options.

Keon Ellis's numbers are down this season ( eight points to five and forty-eight to thirty-nine percent shooting), but he was playing seventeen minutes a game off the bench, and he's not a bad shooter, averaging forty-six percent and forty-one from three for his career.

Ellis is a top-notch defender, and he'll be a big help on that end of the floor. Ellis is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, so it's possible that Ellis could be a rental player.

The well-traveled Dennis Schroder joins the Cavaliers as his eleventh team in his thirteen year career.

I could see Schroder staying as the third guard, especially if the Cavaliers could find a taker for the tremendously disappointing Lonzo Ball, but I could also see Schroder being moved in another trade if the team isn't finished dealing.

Schroder does bring a veteran's attitude and attitude to a team that could use some nastiness.

Schroder is under contract for three more seasons but only 2026-27 is with guaranteed money.

Schroder is averaging just under thirteen points a game for Sacramento and is shooting forty percent on the year.

Cleveland saves some money under this trade, swapping De'Andre Hunter's 23 million for the sixteen million paid to Ellis and Schroder, which doesn't quite move the Cavaliers out of the second apron but does move them closer to the mark and lessens the current season's luxury tax penalty by a significant margin.

This is a key factor for a team with the highest-paid roster in the league and should Cleveland look at Dennis Schroder (or Lonzo Ball) as a disposable asset in an attempt even get out of their cap level, Cleveland may not be finished trading.

On the whole, I understand the move as the Cavaliers were paying De'Andre Hunter a sizable chunk of money to be disappointing on the floor and didn't want to enter the playoffs gambling on Hunter and Lonzo Ball turning their season around.

Still, despite the lack of production from Hunter, I liked him as a player and I'm sad to see him leave.

I have tons of boxing to write about over the next few days, so I'll be working on those posts next.

Cavaliers crush Heat in Game Three

   The Cleveland Cavaliers rolled into Miami looking to finish off the Miami Heat in four games.

And in game three, the Cavaliers accomplished half their goal with a dominating 124-87 victory in game three of their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series.

Six Cavaliers finished with double-figures, led by Jarrett Allen's twenty-two and DeAndre Hunter's twenty-one.

Cleveland can complete the sweep Monday night in Miami.

Swashbucklings

1) It's hard to imagine, but the Cavaliers were this destructive on a bad shooting afternoon by Donovan Mitchell, who finished with thirteen points on four for fourteen shooting.

2) As a team, Cleveland shot fifty-three percent from the floor while Miami shot forty-two percent.

In basketball, if you have a ratio of eleven points in shooting percentage, most of the time, you win.

3) Earlier, Evan Mobley was announced as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.

I was surprised that Mobley won and not because he didn't deserve it, he did.

Usually, players need a year of nomination for such awards before they actually win them.

4) Excellent game from DeAndre Hunter off the bench with his 21 points on six of eight shooting.

Hunter's plus-minus for the game was a stunning plus thirty-four,

5) Cleveland outscored Miami 33-5 at one point in the first half, and you could see the air release from the Heat, they knew early this game was over.

6) All of this was achieved without Darius Garland, who sat out with a toe injury,

Smart move by Kenny Atkinson to get Garland 100 percent for the future and I would sit him Monday as well.

Cavaliers obtain De'Andre Hunter from Hawks

    Koby Altman must have been frustrated with his Cleveland Cavaliers' recent struggles against the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder, arguably the two best teams the Cavaliers must face to win an NBA championship.

Altman needed to do something to upgrade the roster. Still, with limited resources to trade if he didn't want to trade any of Cleveland's "Core Four" of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers weren't tabbed as a team likely to acquire a player that could be more than a role player by the NBA's trade deadline.

Anyone believing that would have been incorrect as Altman not only landed a player that improved the roster, Altman did so at a surprisingly low cost as the Cavaliers acquired De'Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three future second-round draft picks, and pick swaps in the future, which sometimes never are used.

Hunter was the fourth overall draftee in the 2019 draft from Virginia and is enjoying his best season as a professional with averages of nineteen points and almost four rebounds a game for the Hawks.

The twenty-seven-year-old Hunter is signed through this season and the following two years so Hunter won't be a rental and can be planned into the Cavaliers future.

Hunter is shooting forty-six percent from the floor and a career-high thirty-nine percent from beyond the three-point line.

Hunter is the "three and D" on the wing that Cleveland lacked. At 6'8", he can play the four position if circumstances require it. While Hunter may not have been the defensive stopper he was in college, he is still better than average on the defensive end.

Cleveland's cost for Hunter seems light compared to their return, losing two players from their second unit.

Caris LeVert averages ten points and just under four assists per game in almost twenty-four minutes a night. He is capable of offensive explosions, but it's difficult to consistently rely on him. His expiring contract may have appealed to the Hawks most in the trade.

Georges Niang was averaging eight points a game in twenty minutes per game off the bench and was shooting forty percent from three-point range in a season that saw improved play from Niang after a disappointing first Cleveland campaign.

The second-round picks are a tangible asset and not something that I worry about trading, and I doubt the option for Atlanta to switch first-rounders with Cleveland will ever occur.

The amazing thing for me is that the best two assets that could have been traded, the Cavaliers next available first-rounder in 2031 and their most recent first-round pick in Jaylon Tyson, Cleveland managed to keep both!

Tyson isn't playing a large role yet but impressed when he has had the opportunity and Cleveland hopes to develop Tyson into a key performer when the Cavaliers may have to make salary cap decisions down the road.

Caris LeVert and Georges Niang are both reported to be great locker room guys and losing them certainly weakens the second unit.

However, neither player would have been a playoff regular and Niang in particular would see his playing time decrease drastically during the postseason.

Both players will be missed but Koby Altman has to be praised for adding a player such as De'Andre Hunter to fill the team's largest weakness at a reasonable price.

Clearly, Cleveland has improved their chances of dethroning the Boston Celtics with the acquisition of De'Andre Hunter.