On today’s Odds & Ends: An NBA executive sound off on the Cavaliers, Cleveland trade rumors, and how the team’s over/under and championship odds have shifted so far this season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are meandering through the regular season and there’s been quite a bit of speculation that they’ll be one of the more active teams ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
“I have no idea what the hell is going on there … But it ain’t good.”????
– League source on the Cleveland Cavaliers
(Via @SteveBHoop ) pic.twitter.com/sWoNqagwsO
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 15, 2023
Executives around the league believe in the talent on Cleveland’s roster, though one NBA executive that spoke with Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com believes something is wrong in the locker room.
“I have no idea what the hell is going on there … But it ain’t good,” the executive told Bulpett of the team’s run this year. The same executive told Bulpett after the Cavs’ loss in the playoffs last year that the team’s body language was especially bad.
“Their energy, their body language, their swagger — it was just pitiful,” the exec told Heavy Sports. “It was so bad. I’ve never seen a team that good have such bad body language.
Darius Garland (jaw) and Evan Mobley (knee surgery) are out for the next several weeks with injuries and there have been rumblings about Donovan Mitchell being a candidate to be traded, though there hasn’t been much substantial reporting from traditional media outlets.
Cleveland’s roster could look different over the next couple of months and if the front office chooses to move Mitchell, there will no doubt be many teams to show interest. In the interim, Mitchell is holding down the fort for the Cavaliers and told Bulpett that he believes in the Cavs; roster.
“We have the pieces,” Mitchell told Heavy Sports (before today’s injury news). “I think it’s just a matter of getting on the same page as a group.
“You know, at the end of the day I can sit here and give you all these answers, but we’ve got to go out there and put the consistency of work in, you know, in games. We put the work in in our off time, but all of us collectively as players and coaches, we’ve all got to get on the same page. I think it’s just something we’ve got to find a way to do.”
More From Cleveland
- ESPN has an update on Mobley’s injury timeline with Woj reporting that the big man is expected to undergo surgery and miss six-to-eight weeks.
- Five Cavaliers became trade-eligible on Friday.
- Could P.J. Tucker be a buyout or trade option for Cleveland? We examined his fit as part of our NBA Odds & Ends earlier this week.
- If Cleveland opts to add a veteran point guard, a familiar name could be a trade target.
Cavaliers Playoffs, NBA Finals Odds
As of this writing, neither Fan Duel nor DraftKings has odds available for the Cavaliers to make or miss the postseason.
FanDuel has the current over/under on Cavaliers’ regular season wins at 44.5 (Cleveland had a 50.5 win total heading into the season).
Odds to win the Eastern Conference:
- FanDuel: +2700 (6th-best)
- Draft Kings: +1600 (5th)
Odds to win the NBA Finals:
- FanDuel +4500 (13th)
- DraftKings: +4500 (13th)
