Woj: Cavs have too much belief in this team to make major trade

December 21, 2023

You’ve heard the rumors. Donovan Mitchell. Jarrett Allen. Maybe some others.

Eventually, the Cavaliers have to make some sort of trade, right?

Well, maybe not. In fact, Cleveland is actually considered one of the least-active teams in the very early trade season. As far as anyone can tell, the Cavs aren’t even looking to make a low-level move at the moment.

They just want to get healthy, stay healthy, and keep believing the current roster is capable of even better things.

One rival executive told Hoops Wire that he doesn’t think the Cavs need to do anything, and they certainly don’t need to explore Mitchell trades this season. They can worry about all that after the season ends, because you never know what the season may bring, the exec said.

That more or less echoed a response given by ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski during his weekly Q&A with readers on social media platform Threads, which is Facebook’s answer to Twitter/X.

When asked if the Cavs might be “sellers” at the Feb. 8 trade deadline, Wojnarowski was direct with his response.

“The Cavaliers have too much talent and too much belief in this team to do anything but prepare to try and make a deep playoff run,” he wrote.

Later, Wojnarowski was asked if the New Orleans Pelicans might be able to get in on the “Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes.” And again, Wojnarowski was very much to the point.

“There is no Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes,” he responded.

A lot of people believe what they want to believe, and I can tell you that as a member of the media, we need stuff to talk and write about. But I’ve said it many times and will again — if the Cavs trade Mitchell this season, I’ll be more shocked than I was on the day that they traded FOR him.

And frankly, I don’t think the Cavs nor Mitchell know what their future together holds. Both sides appear more than willing to let this season play out, then take it from there. No one in Cleveland has given up, and that much we can say with a pretty strong degree of certainty.