CLEVELAND — Last month, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be "open for business" ahead of the March 25 NBA trade deadline.
With the deadline now just three weeks away, that sentiment has only appeared to grow stronger, with Charania now reporting that in addition to center Andre Drummond, the Cavs are willing to listen to offers for a number of veteran players, including Cedi Osman, Taurean Prince and JaVale McGee.
"Cleveland has also been open to discussing forwards Cedi Osman and Taurean Prince and center JaVale McGee in the right deal, sources said," Charania reported. "Several teams have called on the Cavaliers’ wing players, those sources said."
That Cavs would be willing to move on from those players makes sense, as the team continues to focus on youth. As noted by Charania, center Jarrett Allen, forward Isaac Okoro and guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland -- all of whom are 22-years-old or younger -- have emerged as Cleveland's core pieces in Year 3 of its post-LeBron James rebuild.
Following Wednesday night's loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Cavs enter the All-Star break laying claim to a 14-22 record. Cleveland will return to action on March 12 when it will face the New Orleans Pelicans.
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On Thursday's episode of the Locked On Cavs podcast, Chris Manning and Evan Dammerall discuss the following:
- Darius Garland was not selected to the Team USA roster for the annual Rising Stars game and some view that as a snub. Especially when Minnesota's Anthony Edwards and Golden State's James Wiseman are both playing worse than Garland respectively.
- When it comes to the good for this season, Chris and Evan agree that Cleveland exceeding so many expectations is a huge bright spot for the first half of the season. This is thanks to the team's young core blossoming, continuity at the head coach position, and being a pesky team on defense.
- But, on the other end of the spectrum, the way Cleveland has fallen hard in overall defense, dealt with injuries, and how they handled the Andre Drummond and Kevin Porter Jr. situations are some of the lowlights from the first half.
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