The New-Look Cavs

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Tyler Rains, Writer

The NBA trade deadline. Every year, teams scramble around this time period looking to see if they need to make any roster changes.

For playoff contenders, they seek to get players who will make an immediate impact on their team and give them the best shot. For non-playoff contenders, they see it as a chance to unload in return for younger players or draft picks.

The Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves among the contenders this year to no surprise. With LeBron James on the team, there’s no way they aren’t contenders. However, they’ve had their struggles.

By most measurements, they have had an underwhelming and even disappointing season up until the deadline. That isn’t good for a team looking to win their second NBA championship in three years.

With this in mind, they decided to shake up their lineup, and they did it with a bang. They traded nearly half of their team: a total of six guys and one first-round draft pick.

The trades weren’t simple either, they involved four teams in three separate deals. The Cavs ended up acquiring four players.

The first deal was trading Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and their 2018 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.

The second deal was trading Derrick Rose and Jae Crowder to the Jazz and Iman Shumpert and their 2020 second-round pick to the Kings. In return, they got George Hill and Rodney Hood.

The third deal was one done out of courtesy. They traded Dwayne Wade back to the Miami Heat for a protected second-round pick. Wade is an aging legend who wanted to return back to where his career took off.

The “New-Look” Cavs hope to become the Cavs team everyone expected in the 2017-18 season. With LeBron chasing his fourth ring, and with his eyes certainly looking towards six rings, he has no time to waste.