The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to climb in the Eastern Conference standings, as the team is now third in the conference behind the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
Chemistry has been a major part of the team’s success. For that reason, the organization hasn’t shown a desire to make any sort of move that could potentially disrupt the group’s chemistry, according to The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd and Kelsey Russo.
Lloyd and Russo talked about what the Cavs might do at the deadline. Lloyd was quick to point out that any player the team trades for would need to fit in from a chemistry standpoint.
“[Caris] LeVert makes a lot of sense,” Lloyd wrote. “He’s the right age, his contract is easy to absorb if the Cavs use [Ricky] Rubio’s contract as the vehicle to make the money work (they’d obviously have to include other assets) and LeVert likely wouldn’t disrupt the chemistry the Cavs have right now. That’s a big deal in all of this. This team realizes how special this group is and they haven’t shown an inclination to do anything major that might disrupt it.”
The Cavaliers have been led by Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and rookie Evan Mobley in the 2021-22 campaign.
Trading for a player like LeVert would surely help the team overcome the loss of guard Collin Sexton, who was the team’s leading scorer in the 2020-21 season.
However, the Cavs have already shown that they can win even with Sexton and Rubio done for the season, which may lead to the team standing pat at this year’s trade deadline.
LeVert has been solid for the Pacers this season. He is averaging 18.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from beyond the arc.
It will be interesting to see how the Cavs proceed for the remainder of the season, as they clearly have confidence in their current group of players.
