As the trade deadline looms over NBA franchises, the Athletic Detroit Pistons staff writer James L. Edwards went over possible trade scenarios for forward Bojan Bogdanovic in a Wednesday article. The Cavs trade proposal was simple: Send over guard Caris LeVert, and LeVert alone, for the 33-year-old Pistons forward.
Edwards said he was of the belief that the Pistons would target LeVert, who was a free agent in this summer’s upcoming free agency period, but didn’t think they would acquire him at the expense of the team’s leading scorer this season.
“I’d do the trade if Cleveland could toss in its 2024 first-round pick, but the Cavaliers can’t move that selection until draft night, and LeVert will be off their books by then,” Edwards wrote. “LeVert is younger than Bogdanovic by a few years, as well as a bucket-getter in his own right, but he doesn’t currently hold the external value that Bogdanovic does.”
Though the Cavs are not allowed to trade a first-round pick during the season, the team does have eight second-round picks available for trade. The two player’s contracts nearly match, with Bogdanovic earning a $19.34 million base salary on top of $207,000 in likely incentives and LeVert making $18.77 million, according to Spotrac.
Even if the Cavs try to meet the “rather difficult” trade expectations for Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell’s former Utah Jazz teammate, the Pistons could wait for LeVert to become a free agent upon the expiration of the three-year, $52 million deal he signed with the Indiana Pacers in 2019.
“If the Pistons were desperate to move Bogdanovic or overeager to get off his money (Detroit signed him to an extension at the start of the season), I could see some deal like this,” Edwards wrote. “Yet, that doesn’t appear to be the case as of now.
“Detroit could just wait until the summer and try to get LeVert in the open market.”