The Cleveland Cavaliers will enter the 2024-25 NBA season with a highly exciting roster. Cleveland is returning nearly all of its top contributors from 2023-24. However, the Cavs are also bolstering their depth, and they made a move on former Utah Jazz forward Elijah Hughes a few days before opening day.
The Cavs have agreed to an unspecified deal with Hughes, per Senior NBA Insider Chris Haynes.
Elijah Hughes is a former 2020 second-round pick who saw incredible improvement during his three years in college. He started his journey with the East Carolina men’s basketball team in 2016 and later transferred to Syracuse. After averaging 7.8 points during his freshman year, Hughes lept to 13.7 points on a 36.9 percent three-point shooting clip. However, it was his final year with the Orange in 2019-20 that caught everyone’s attention.
Hughes averaged a collegiate career-high 19.0 points along with 1.2 steals on 34 percent deep-range shooting. The 6-foot-6 forward could valuable depth to the Cavs amid his new deal.
One of the most exciting moves the Cavs made during the offseason was hiring former Brooklyn Nets head coach and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson. Atkinson is bringing reimagined offensive sets to the team, and Darius Garland revealed his true feelings on the changes in early October.
“I think [Atkinson’s diversifying of offensive sets] will be good for us. We have a lot of talent on this team, so different off-ball actions, different screen actions to just get defenders moving and shifting is going to help us just trying to get downhill and make plays for others. So, I think it’s going to be good just to move the ball side to side and get defenses shifted,” Garland said, per Spencer Davies.
Furthermore, Atkinson will have the team emphasize taking a healthy amount of three-pointers.
It will be exciting to see how the new-look Cavs fare as opening day inches closer.
