NBA Trade Rumors: Cavs Have Made Markelle Fultz Offer To Sixers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the first team to make a serious offer for Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz.

According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, many teams are interested in the 20-year-old but it is Cleveland that has offered a package including Kyle Korver and a protected draft pick.

“Other teams have been sniffing around the Fultz situation, with the Cleveland Cavaliers believed to have dangled a deal built around Kyle Korver and a protected draft pick," Kyler wrote. "The Cavs are just one of several teams to have reached out on Fultz, but it does not appear the 76ers are as eager to make a change as maybe Fultz’s camp may want, at least not yet."

If the Sixers were to agree to that trade offer, it would satisfy their requirement for a perimeter shooter. With the likes of Robert Covington, Dario Saric and Jerryd Bayless all being traded to make way for Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia are lacking in depth and three-point shooting prowess.

Korver, 37, is one of the best in the league being a career 43.1 percent shooter from three-point range and is already reported to be a target for the Sixers.

"The desperate-for-shooters Sixers remain highly interested in acquiring Cleveland's Kyle Korver," Marc Stein of the New York Times wrote earlier this month. "But that will be harder for Philadelphia to make happen without Jerryd Bayless' handy $8.6 million expiring contract to help facilitate a trade."

However, trading Fultz and his $8,339,880 salary for this season would certainly help in facilitating a trade. Receiving a protected draft pick would sweeten the deal as well.

Fultz was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA draft but has struggled this season, particularly with his shooting and confidence.

Currently away from the team to see a specialist for a shoulder injury, it was reported last week that he would "prefer a fresh start with a new team", though his agent would later deny those reports. It was then reported on Sunday that the Sixers no longer had Fultz in their long-term plans with Amico Hoops revealing later in the day the Cavs had inquired about the Maryland native.

Whatever eventually happens, a trade to a team with less attention like the James-less Cavaliers would be ideal for Fultz as he could gradually develop with less pressure and eyes on every performance of his.

The Atlanta Hawks is another team that has been suggested as a potential destination for Fultz by NBA writer Kevin Arnovitz.

"Here you have a team that is a long way from contending. They are all about player development," Arnovitz said on "The Jump" show recently. "... By the way, his head coach [Lloyd Pierce] would be a former Sixers assistant who is one of the best player development coaches in the league, who knows what his defensive potential is and what his offensive potential could be."

"By the way, there is no media in Atlanta... Have you ever seen the media in Philadelphia? Versus the media in Atlanta? He would be under a lot less scrutiny for a team that has no imperative to win right now, in fact, might not have an imperative to win," he added.