PORTLAND, Ore. — Members of the Cavs’ front office — ones who had not yet joined on this current West Coast trip — gathered at team headquarters early Saturday, expecting to put the finishing touches a much-discussed trade with the Sacramento Kings by mid-afternoon.
It took longer than that. Much longer. But it was worth the wait.
Close to 11 p.m. Eastern Time, after finally finding a third team that could help facilitate the deal from a financial standpoint, the Cavs acquired veteran floor general Dennis Schroder and tenacious, in-demand guard Keon Ellis from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for struggling swingman De’Andre Hunter.
Chicago became the third team, receiving Dario Saric and two second-round picks — one from the Cavs (Denver’s 2027 second-rounder) and another from the Kings.
Since the Bulls had to send out something in the swap, the Cavs are also receiving two-way forward Emanuel Miller — a move that will lead to Luke Travers being waived.
A lot of phone calls. A lot of moving parts. A lot of conversations. A lot of different frameworks.
But with their first move of trade season — and the 30th from president of basketball operations Koby Altman since taking over — the cap-strapped Cavaliers upgraded, deepened and reconfigured the roster while shedding salary.
Those were the two primary goals ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. buzzer. And, sources say, Cleveland is not done, with ongoing discussions centered around embattled reserve Lonzo Ball to create more flexibility. Sources tell cleveland.com the Cavs have also received calls on still-recovering Max Strus recently.
“After careful evaluation and a clearer view of the Eastern Conference landscape, we believe adding Dennis and Keon strengthens our depth, expands our flexibility, and positions us to keep building a championship caliber team now and into the future,” said Altman. “In a season defined by its parity, this move better aligns us for a deeper postseason run.”
The 26-year-old Ellis, who the Cavs brought in for a pre-draft workout in 2022 and considered taking with one of their two second-rounders that year, has built his reputation as a pesky point of attack defender with a reliable shooting stroke — the 3-and-D skillset that led to at least 10 teams buzzing the Kings and registering trade interest.
Over the course of his four-year career, Ellis is averaging 6.3 points on 46.0% from the field and 41.6% from 3-point range. He shoots 56.5% on 2s and has a 61% effective shooting rate.
As the Ellis addition became more real, the Cavs had an intel-gathering chat with current assistant Jawad Williams who witnessed Ellis’ Sacramento breakthrough in-person a year ago. Williams pointed to a number of areas where Ellis can help and relayed that he would be a good fit — on and off the court.
Offensively, the idea is to play Ellis away from the ball, in a space-the-floor catch-and-shoot role, similar to now-departed Isaac Okoro. Looks for Ellis to possibly be involved in some small-small screening actions with Donovan Mitchell as well.
Even though Ellis is listed at 6-foot-4, 175 pounds and his primary responsibility has been to hound opposing ballhandlers as they attempt to bring the ball up the floor and initiate, Cleveland also plans to diversify that defensive role, giving him backup minutes at small forward in what would be a three-guard look, seeing how he holds up as a perimeter defender against bigger, stronger wings.
It may work. It may not. It’s about discovery.
As for Schroder, he is a Kenny Atkinson favorite from their days together in Atlanta and Schroder’s inclusion was part of the reason the Cavs made this particular three-teamer — despite his bulky salary number and lengthy deal (two more years under contract at around $15 million annually).
There were other Hunter iterations with Sacramento and other teams as well. At this point, Cleveland doesn’t have designs on flipping the newly acquired Schroder ahead of Thursday’s deadline — unless an unexpected opportunity materializes.
As the Cavs were canvassing the league for established, reliable, mature, playoff-ready distributors to alleviate that playmaking responsibility from Mitchell and Darius Garland, who continues to recover from another big toe injury, they kept going back to Schroder.
Not only was Atkinson very excited about the move, but Cleveland reached out to Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez — the former Cleveland development ace with deep ties to the organization — and he spoke highly of the polarizing point guard who will now be on his 11th different team.
For the Cavs, everything is about being better equipped for playoff success.
Schroder has 74 postseason appearances. He has been a star for the German National Team, thriving in pressure-packed, intense and big-stakes environments like the FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket, where he was named MVP of both and helped Germany capture a gold medal.
He is unfazed, unafraid and mentally tough enough to handle the springtime crucible.
The Cavs, who conducted detailed background checks on Schroder, like his edge. They like his attitude. They like that he is headstrong and opinionated. They believe they have been missing those qualities since Georges Niang departed last February.
Despite Schroder’s arrival creating a potential logjam in the backcourt, especially when Garland is healthy, the Cavs would like to keep ascending guard Craig Porter Jr. in the rotation — if there are enough minutes.
Atkinson likes — and views — Porter as more of a combo, a utility guy, not a backup point guard.
From a financial standpoint, Cleveland has significantly cut its luxury tax bill, saving nearly $40 million in tax payments by rerouting Saric to Chicago. The Cavs have also moved closer to ducking underneath the punitive second-apron threshold — although that’s not an urgent motivation.
In all, this Hunter deal creates a little more than $50 million in savings.
Around this time last year, the Cavs believed they had found their answer at small forward — a ready-made 3-and-D player who complemented the Core 4 and enhanced their immediate playoff chances.
It didn’t go according to plan.
Cleveland tried Hunter as a starter and reserve. Tried him on and off the ball. Tried him alongside one big and two. Tried him at the 3 and 4. Tried to change some of his defensive usage, getting him in isolations more. Tried to increase his touches and offensive usage.
Nothing worked.
The Cavs were confounded by his struggles, believing it was more than just a prolonged slump. They didn’t see it as a fit anymore. With championship aspirations and the Eastern Conference openness creating a pathway to that throne, they had to assess the situation honestly.
In the midst of one of his least productive seasons, the team couldn’t afford that version of Hunter.
He kept getting bumped further down the depth chart. He was no longer seen as a fixture of closing groups, his importance diminishing over the past year. Others were more effective in their minutes.
With Jaylon Tyson’s emergence, Dean Wade’s fit in the starting lineup, Sam Merrill’s breakthrough in an expanded role, Strus getting closer to a return — if he remains beyond the deadline — and Nae’Qwan Tomlin soon to be given a standard contract, Hunter became expendable.
Sometimes an organization needs to admit a mistake. Sometimes it needs to pivot.
The Cavs did that by dealing Hunter.
