On Thursday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers went with an upside swing with their selection of Emoni Bates at No. 49 overall in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft.
That was Cleveland’s only selection of the night, and despite Cleveland rumored to be among teams that were considering moving up into the late first round via trade, the Cavaliers did not ultimately do so.
For the Cavaliers, Thursday’s draft was not likely to be one nearly as noteworthy as others in the recent past. This Cavaliers team has to improve on the margins, but they seemingly do have their core pieces in place, so this latest draft was probably not going to be one where’d they land another cornerstone guy, necessarily.