The Cleveland Cavaliers are seemingly at a crossroads with Isaac Okoro. Okoro is a restricted free agent, but he has garnered very little interest on the open market. He has also apparently rebuffed several multi-year offers the Cavaliers have made him.
As a result, Cleveland could ultimately Move Okoro in a sign-and-trade deal, a scenario that has been discussed throughout the summer.
According to Sam Amico of Hoops WireThe Washington Wizards are one of the teams interested in potentially acquiring Okoro.
The Wizards have one player the Cavs could certainly be interested in: forward Marvin Bagley II.
The Cavaliers could trade Okoro for Bagley, whose contract is expiring and which would not only give Cleveland a solid young talent for the 2024-25 campaign, but also give the team some financial flexibility next offseason.
Bagley fills an obvious need for the Cavs: an offensively gifted big man.
The former second overall pick hasn’t exactly delivered the results he’d hoped for, largely because injuries have significantly stunted his growth. Bagley played just 50 games last season and hasn’t appeared in 60 games since his rookie year in 2018-19.
However, he has a skill set that the Cavaliers desperately need and put up very impressive numbers last season, averaging 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game on 58.6/39.1/76.2 shooting splits.
Now, it’s worth noting that Bagley’s three-point shooting percentage has only come on 23 attempts from long range. He’s making 29.6 percent of his three-pointers on 1.6 attempts per game. So he’s not exactly a reliable shooter. But that doesn’t mean he can’t become one.
Bagley is a very talented offensive player, which is the main reason he was so highly regarded coming out of Duke. Plus, he’s only 25 and still has room to grow.
And let’s be honest: Cleveland has no intention of making a big move for Okoro. There’s a reason he remains unsigned this late in the offseason. He’s shown very little offensive progression, and his horrendous playoff performance last spring has obviously turned off most teams.
The Cavs will probably have to settle for a Bagley-type return, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. The Cavaliers TO DO More goals are needed as a backup, after all, and Bagley had a 62.9% true shooting percentage last year. Maybe he’s improving?
We’ll see if the Wizards actually contact Cleveland about Okoro and if the Cavs can find a match with Washington.
