Report: Cavs were eyeing Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo during Paris Olympics

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly were eyeing former first-round pick and Bruno Caboclo during the 2024 Paris Olympics while he was playing for Brazil.

The No. 20 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Caboclo has not played in the NBA since the 2020-21 season when he was with the Houston Rockets.

“In fact, I had a source tell me that the Cavs were taking a look – not that they were going to sign him – but they were taking a look at Bruno Caboclo while he was playing for the Brazil national team,” Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor said. “That’s the level of scouting that they do.”

While it doesn’t seem like the Cavs are intent on adding Caboclo to their roster at the moment, it is interesting that they’re still looking for upgrades at this point in the offseason.

Cleveland didn’t make any major moves in free agency, but instead it extended three key players in guard Donovan Mitchell and big men Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Those moves have the Cavs locked into a core that made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

Even though he was a first-round pick, Caboclo never really found his footing in the NBA. He appeared in just 105 games (20 starts) from the 2014-15 season through the 2020-21 season. He played his most games in a single season during the 2018-19 campaign, averaging 8.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists across 34 games for the Memphis Grizzlies.

After getting drafted by and beginning his career with the Toronto Raptors, Caboclo played for the Sacramento Kings, Grizzlies and Rockets before heading overseas.

He had a monster game in the Olympics against Team USA, scoring 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting (2-for-6 from 3) to go with six rebounds, one assist and one steal in a 122-87 United States victory in the quarterfinals.

It’s possible that more teams were looking at the former first-round pick, especially since he rose to the occasion against some of the best NBA players in the world when he faced Team USA.

Caboclo is still just 28 years old, but the Cavs may want to give younger players like rookie Jaylon Tyson a crack at making their rotation over signing a player that hasn’t been in the NBA for a few seasons.