When James Harden was shipped to Brooklyn in a blockbuster trade that shifted the NBA’s entire landscape earlier this season, there was one part of that trade that was almost forgotten. The Clevland Cavaliers got one of the biggest steals ever in a trade package.
They gave up Milwaukee’s first-round pick this year, Dante Exum, and a 2024 second-round pick, and in return, received one of the best young rim protectors in the league in Jarrett Allen.
The by-product of this deal was two-time all-star Andre Drummond of the Cavaliers. Drummond was having a solid season by his standards, which means averaging 17.5 points per game and being one of the league’s best rebounders, pulling down an average of 13.5 boards per game this season.
After taking some time to learn the new Clevland system, Jarrett Allen has found his spot and solidified himself as the best center on the Cavaliers roster. After a discussion with the front office, Drummond and the team agreed that it wouldn’t be fair to take minutes away from Drummond, who is still just 27 years old, in favor of the younger Allen. So the Cavaliers will try to find a trade destination for Drummond, where he can contribute to a team that needs his abilities as a center.
The problem with a Drummond trade is that he is making $28 million per year, and is on an expiring contract, so even if a trade does go through, Drummond wouldn’t be guaranteed to stay in his new home come to the offseason. If no team does end up trading for Drummond, it is almost certain that he would be the hottest commodity in the buyout market, but I doubt that it gets to that point.
The destination that makes the most sense for Drummond, in my opinion, is to be traded to the Miami Heat. The Heat are 28th in the league this season in total rebounding and could immediately fix those woes by adding one of the best rebounders of the past decade to their roster. The Heat are also one of the few teams who have the assets to pull off this deal.
I could foresee the Heat trading Andre Iguodala and Kelly Olynyk and a couple of picks to Clevland in return for the big man from UConn. The Cavaliers would get a veteran in Iggy to mentor the young players on the Cavs like Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, and Kelly Olynyk is a very serviceable stretch four/five.
Heat fans would rather see Bradley Beal come to town, but in making this trade, they would hold onto their young players that will get better, like Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. Bradley Beal is the flashier pick, but with Jimmy Butler’s return, the Heat seem to be returning to the level of play we saw from them in the Bubble in Orlando last year. They are not far from being back in championship discussions, and adding Drummond to sure up their rebounding numbers could be all it takes for the Heat to be contenders once again.
I won’t be covering any of the potential suitors for Drummond in the buyout market because, simply put, everyone will want to sign Drummond if he does make it to the buyout market. Instead, I think that there is only one other potential suitor for Drummond if he were to get traded, and that is the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors have been great in the past couple of seasons in the eastern conference, and that was largely in part due to their stellar frontcourt of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Unfortunately, both of those guys left in free agency, and that left two huge holes that the front office tried to fill with Alex Len and Arron Baynes.
Although the Raptors haven’t been terrible and are in contention in the East, their rebounding has been. They rank dead last in total rebounding, and who better to fix that problem than Andre Drummond?
The only way this trade would work is if the Raptors gave up Kyle Lowry in return for Drummond and hopefully a first-round pick and a couple of seconds down the road. As sad as it would be for Toronto to say goodbye to Lowry, it may be what is best for their future, as they would be able to fully commit to the backcourt of Fred VanVleet and OG Annonuby, who are the future of the Raptors anyways.
If Drummond could fix the rebounding problems, the Raptors would be able to move Baynes to the bench and then move up-and-coming star Chris Boucher into the starting lineup, and that would leave them with the five of VanVleet, OG, Pascal, Boucher, Drummond. They would still have Norman Powell, Aaron Baynes, Terrance Davis, and three-point specialist Matt Thomas coming off the bench.
This would leave the Cavaliers with another great backcourt player in Lowry, but if the Heat doesn’t bite on the deal, they should take what they can get, and Lowry is not a bad consolation prize at all. He would play alongside Sexton, and Darius Garland could come off the bench and be a Lou Williams-type spark for the Cavaliers.
