Cleveland Cavaliers Trade Rumors: DeAndre Jordan, Lou Williams Are Options Amid Kevin Love Injury

The Cleveland Cavaliers have to make a trade. That much is clear if they want any chance of competing for a championship in what could be LeBron James’ last season with the team.

Things have never been worse for Cleveland during James’ second stint with the franchise. The Cavs fell to 29-20 on the season Tuesday night with their 125-114 road loss to the Detroit Pistons, who were without Blake Griffin and the players they gave up to acquire the power forward.

Adding injury to insult, Kevin Love left the game with a broken bone in his hand, and the injury is expected to keep him out between six and eight weeks. Without their second-best player for possibly the next two months, Cleveland is six games behind the Boston Celtics for the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference and three games in the loss column ahead of the No.8 seed Philadelphia 76ers.

The Cavs can easily fall to the No.5 seed and fail to get home-court advantage in any playoff series with Love set to miss so much time.

It’s become clear that the Cavs should no longer be considered a lock to reach the NBA Finals, which has been the case in each of the last three years. A fourth straight meeting with the Golden State Warriors is far from a given, especially with how much better the Celtics and Toronto Raptors are playing. The Milwaukee Bucks are also looking more dangerous each night now that head coach Jason Kidd has been let go.

Cleveland gives up more points per 100 possessions than anyone in the NBA. No team that’s ranked last or near the bottom of the league defensively has ever come close to making the NBA Finals.

The Cavs might as well have traded Kyrie Irving for nothing, at this point, considering Isaiah Thomas looks like a shell of his old self following hip surgery and Jae Crowder isn’t performing like a rotation player on a title contender. J.R. Smith is playing worse than ever, giving Cleveland one of the NBA’s worst backcourts.

James is still James, but even he can’t get to the NBA Finals on his own. We saw that in his first stint in Cleveland, and his second run with the Cavs could end much like his first run did in 2010.

It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see Cleveland win the East for a fourth straight year. James remains the world’s best basketball player, and Love will be back for the postseason. Maybe Thomas will get better as the season moves along.

Winning a title, however, seems like a near impossibility with Cleveland’s current roster. Considering James is headed for free agency amid rumors that he has eyes on heading elsewhere, getting swept in the finals could end up being disastrous for the Cavs.

The opportunity is there for the Cavs to make impactful trades. The team probably can’t do enough to win the championship—it’s hard to believe anyone can beat Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in a seven-game series—but they can definitely improve the team, as well as their chances of avoiding an early-round upset.

According to Sam Amico, there have been talks between Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers regarding DeAndre Jordan. There have been rumors that Jordan could be traded for weeks, and now that the team has sent Blake Griffin to Detroit, it seems clear that the team would trade their center for the right price.

The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported that both Jordan and Lou Williams are available. Williams will be a free agent next year, and Jordan could choose to forgo his player option and hit free agency, as well.

Williams is having the best season of his career and would immediately become Cleveland’s best guard. He’s averaging 23.5 points and 5.2 assists per game, taking less than 17 field-goal attempts per contest.

Jordan would certainly help the Cavs defensively. Prior to this season, he spent four straight years in the top seven in defensive win shares, ranking first in the 2014-2015 season. This season, he leads the NBA in field-goal percentage.

It’s unknown exactly what Cleveland would have to trade Los Angeles, though the team has some desirable assets. They own the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick, though the Cavs aren’t likely to deal that in exchange for expiring contracts. Cleveland’s first-round pick is getting more valuable by the day since the Cavs look like they won’t finish the season with one of the league’s best records.

There had been rumors that Cleveland would send Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert to the Sacramento Kings in a trade for George Hill, but an agreement was never reached. Both players could be included in a potential deal to L.A.

Kemba Walker is probably the best player that’s been named in recent trade rumors. The Charlotte Hornets are reportedly willing to send the point guard to a team that’s willing to take on one of their lengthy contracts.

The Cavaliers are caught between trying to win now and being prepared for James’ departure. In making one or two trades to help their chances this season, Cleveland might set themselves back for future seasons.

With the Cavs trying to win a title and re-sign one of the NBA’s all-time greats, it’s a risk Cleveland will have to consider.