5. Matthew Dellavedova
A former teammate of LeBron James always makes for a potential trade candidate, and Matthew Dellavedova is one of his favorites. A hard-nosed, scrappy player, Delly can bring hustle, playoff experience, and some much-needed playmaking to the team’s second unit that is desperately needed.
A trade centered around shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the most obvious choice given that both have salaries that are basically identical to each other, as Delly makes $9.6 million, and Pope makes $8.8 million. So numbers-wise, the trade works, but why would each team do it?
The Cavs have two young guards in the development pipeline in Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, as well as Jordan Clarkson and Cedi Osman who should factor into the team’s future plans. This leaves the 29-year-old Dellavedova on the outside, looking in.
The team is clearly in a rebuilding phase and will be looking to ship out most of, if not all of their veteran pieces, including Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, so it would make sense that the team would want to do right by Delly as well.
Assuming Pope waives his no-trade clause, he is still only 26 years old, and can be another piece to a rebuilding Cavaliers roster, and should slot in nicely as a backup shooting guard. The Lakers, on the other hand, are in win-now mode.
While Delly probably won’t move the needle that much, he’s still someone who can run pick and roll with Davis, and replicate most of Pope’s defensive contributions.