Cleveland has found its backcourt partner for All-Star Darius Garland.
In a trade that was almost expected around the league, the Cavaliers have acquired LeVert in a trade with the Pacers where Indiana gets the expiring contract of Ricky Rubio (out for the season with a torn ACL), a lottery-protected first-round pick and two second-round picks. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news.
Full trade: Indiana sends Caris LeVert and a 2022 second-round pick via Miami to Cleveland for Ricky Rubio, lottery-protected 2022 first-round pick, 2022 second-round pick via Houston and a 2027 second-round pick via Utah, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 6, 2022
In LeVert, Cleveland gets a player averaging 18.7 points and 4.4 assists a game, can create his own shot, defends oklay in a team setting, and should fit next to Garland as the Cavs make a playoff push (plus he is under contract for next season at $18.8 million). In an ideal world Cleveland could have gotten a better shooter — LeVert is hitting 32.3% on 3-pointers this season, which is in line with his career stats — but Rubio wasn’t and the Garland/Rubio pairing worked very well for the Cavs.
Indiana does well and gets two quality picks out of this. The Cavaliers 2022 first-rounder will convey this season (they are not a lottery team, as of today that would be the No. 23 pick) and that Houston second-rounder would be pick 33 (and likely will be close to that). That’s essentially two later first-round picks where they can find players to develop.
The Pacers may not be done. They are actively still looking to trade one or both of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. However, Turner is out with a foot injury that has lowered his trade value, and teams have been hesitant to meet the price tag for the former All-Star Sabonis (two quality firsts, or a first and a good young player).
