Cleveland Cavaliers forward Lamar Stevens defends on-ball. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired forward Lauri Markkanen in a sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls. Although in that deal, most notably, Cleveland had to ship out Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers, who sent Derrick Jones Jr. and a protected first-round pick to the Bulls, who received a protected second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets from the Cavs, too.
It wasn’t ideal for Cleveland to lose Nance, who affected games in a variety of ways when healthy in recent seasons, but I do understand the rationale in acquiring Markkanen.