The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly have “too much belief” in their team to consider being sellers at the trade deadline, which is on Feb. 8.
“The Cavaliers have too much talent and too much belief in this team to do anything but prepare to try and make a deep playoff run,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote.
Cleveland has been playing impressive basketball of late. The team has won three games in a row despite being undermanned.
Granted, two of the Cavaliers’ three wins during their current winning streak have come against opponents with more losses than wins on the season, but they all count just the same. Cleveland’s wins have come against the Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz.
Surprisingly, it was Cavaliers shooting guard Sam Merrill who led the team in scoring against Utah. In 30 minutes off the bench, he scored 27 points while shooting 9-of-16 from the field and 8-of-14 from 3-point range. Merrill’s eight 3-pointers tied a franchise record for the most made in one game by a bench player.
Cleveland’s second-leading scorer came off the bench as well. Caris LeVert dropped 23 points and seven assists in 27 minutes for the Cavaliers while shooting 6-of-15 from the field, 4-of-7 from behind the 3-point line and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Lauri Markkanen — who spent one season with the Cavaliers before he joined Utah — scored the most points of any player on the Jazz with 26.
Following their win over the Jazz, the Cavaliers are now 16-12 on the season and 9-6 at home. The team owns the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference and is just one game back of the Orlando Magic for the No. 4 seed in the conference.
Considering how well the team has been playing lately, it makes sense that the Cavaliers reportedly don’t want to consider selling pieces at the trade deadline, especially since they’ll have help on the way once their injured players are ready to return.
The Cavaliers will attempt to extend their current winning streak to four games when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans at home on Thursday.
The Pelicans have been playing well of late too, seeing as how they own a 7-3 record over their last 10 games. They are fresh off a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 19, however.
