The Cleveland Cavaliers have some work to do this offseason after they crashed out of the 2023 NBA Playoffs in their first round series against the New York Knicks. And while free agency doesn’t open for another few days, it looks like the Cavs may have been foiled by Naz Reid’s decision to re-sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Reid, who was in a great spot to be one of the top center options on the free agent market, ended up signing a three-year, $42 million deal with Minnesota before hitting the open market. While the Cavs are seemingly set at the center position with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, it sounds like they were interested in pursuing Reid should he have made it to free agency.
“Another team that wanted to be in the mix for Reid was Allen’s Cavaliers, sources said. Cleveland would have needed a sign-and-trade avenue to acquire the talented big man. It remains to be seen if the Cavs will continue searching for other frontcourt reserve options behind Allen and Evan Mobley, or if the front office simply valued Reid that highly.” – Jake Fischer, Yahoo! Sports
As previously noted, Cleveland has one of the better center duos in the NBA already, so it’s a bit strange to see that they would target Reid. Maybe they were just very high on Reid, or maybe this signals that the front office intends on changing up their center rotation. Either way, the Cavs have to move onto plan B now that Reid is off the table, and it will be interesting to see how the front office responds to missing out on the talented young big man.