The Cleveland Cavaliers have been on the struggle bus as of late, dropping to 13-10 on Wednesday night with an inexplicable home loss to the lowly Portland Trail Blazers. While Donovan Mitchell continues to put up Herculean stat lines on a nightly basis, he isn't getting as much help as anticipated from his Cleveland supporting cast, and the injury bug is also starting to leave its mark on this Cavaliers team as well.
This being the case, some have already floated the idea of the Cavs trying to shake things up with a trade, and on Thursday, The Ringer's Zach Lowe proposed a trade that would bring the best player in the Eastern Conference to Cleveland.
” I think (Evan) Mobley as the center piece of a Giannis deal discussion is much, much, more interesting to me from the Cleveland perspective than it was just a couple of months ago. Because this more and more just looks like it’s Donovan Mitchell’s team, it’s Donovan Mitchell’s timeline,” said Lowe, per The Zach Lowe Show.
Lowe clarified that “Evan Mobley is really good, and he’s really young, 24 years old, they’re going to have to add more to it than that and there’s apron restrictions.”
Mobley has been a disappointment for the Cavs this season, as fans are still waiting for the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner to take the offensive leap that has been anticipated for several years now. Meanwhile, Mobley's frontcourt partner Jarrett Allen has been in and out of the lineup due to injury, and hasn't been particularly impactful when he's been on the floor.
Overall, a pairing of Mitchell and Antetokounmpo would give the Cavaliers arguably two out of the best three players in the conference on their team, which would be very difficult for any opponent to overcome in a playoff series.
However, as Lowe pointed out, completing this trade would take some maneuvering on Cleveland's part.
