RealGM

As it turns out there were some other players the Cavs might have considered spending their assets on if they hadn't traded for Mitchell. Of course we can't be sure if Lauri or Ochai would have improved their value, and who knows what would have happened with Collin; but we could have made an offer for Kyrie (hahah), KD, maybe OG. We could have tried to pry a player loose from the Nets.

Reading this article:

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/270433/Grizzlies-Offered-All-Picks-Swaps-To-Nets-For-Kevin-Durant

I doubt we had enough to pull off any of the trades (except perhaps the one we wouldn't have done - Kyrie), but it depends if we were able to do the one thing we're really bad at - making our tradable players actually look good to another team.

So, if Lauri was playing for us like he is for Utah, maybe we'd be able to trade him for OG? Maybe we'd be able to pry Bridges or Johnson from the Nets? Or maybe we're just happy to keep Lauri and move forward; but it doesn't feel like we missed out by moving on Mitchell when we did.

Heck, the only thing the Knicks did - who could have out bid us for Mitchell - was get their revenge by likely outbidding us for Josh Hart. Ouch I guess?

I feel like the big trade would have looked like:

PHX In: Durant
Brooklyn In: Mitchell, Bridges
Utah In 4 Draft picks, Johnson

Brooklyn would go for the retool around a star, if one were available. Sadly for them, none was.


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If Lauri is somehow playing for us like he is in Utah, there’s no way Cleveland ever trades him. His incredibly efficient scoring, on top of the defense and matchup problems he presents, gives us a unique advantage over teams that can’t be understated.

With that said, the picks would all still be there for us to use, so getting someone like OG isn’t entirely out of the question.

But in the end, we just have no way of knowing how Collin would do on this team, or if he’d even be on it. We made it clear what we thought he was worth, and it looked like we had no intention of budging. He would have been gone one way or another.

So it’s difficult to really say how things would have turned out. We don’t have enough info to go off off and in the end, it’s hard for me to care anymore. I’m seeing how we’re playing now and it’s pointless to think about what if scenarios. We’re one of the elite teams in the league and that will continue to be the case for years to come, so I’m happy.

One thought was we moved too quickly to make a big trade .vs. you strike when you can, so that's a thought we'll be able to consider.

Whether we should have traded for LeVert is another what-if that likely affected us at the trade deadline too. Josh Hart or Caris LeVert? Not a great choice, but Hart wouldn't cost us a 1st and 2nd.

I mean Sexton had to go so I'm wondering if we could've gotten Bojan for him, but in this hypothetical where we still have Lauri and Agbaji playing well, I don't think I'm making any trade.