The NBA Draft Lottery may not have worked out in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ favor, as the Cavaliers ended up landing the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft in spite of being tied with the best odds to earn the No. 1 overall selection, but while Cleveland won’t have the chance to land Zion Williamson, it will have the opportunity to draft a really good prospect.
Texas Tech forward Jarrett Culver is one of the players many feel the Cavs could take at No. 5, and the Cavaliers are already showing heavy interest in Culver, as they held a private pre-draft workout with him and had dinner with him on Monday, according to Chris Fedor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Culver spent two seasons at Texas Tech and is coming off of a sophomore campaign in which he averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals over 32.5 minutes per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the floor, 30.4 percent from three-point range and 70.7 percent from the free-throw line en route to winning Big 12 Player of the Year honors and helping lead the Red Raiders to the National Championship Game, where they ultimately fell to Virginia.
Fedor notes that the Cavaliers have been monitoring Culver all season and have watched him in person numerous times.
Cleveland is coming off of a 2018-19 season in which it won just 19 games, one year after making four straight NBA Finals. Of course, LeBron James left the Cavs last summer, and the Cavaliers also dealt with a myriad of injuries throughout the season.