Strengthening the Depth at the Deadline

When the Wine & Gold return home just before the All-Star Break, they’ll do so with a beefed-up backcourt for the season’s second half. 

At last year’s Trade Deadline, the Cavaliers jumped into the mix at the 11^th hour – sending Caris LeVert and Georges Niang to Atlanta in exchange for De’Andre Hunter. This year, Cleveland got to work early, making the first major deal in the week before the Deadline – dealing Hunter to Sacramento and draft considerations to Chicago in a three-team deal, acquiring guards Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis from the Kings and Emmanuel Miller from Chicago. 

The Bulls acquired Dario Šarić and a second rounder from the Kings in the deal. 

The Cavs made a corresponding move, waiving Luke Travers, who played in 12 games in each of the last two seasons with the Cavs. The Aussie forward, taken with the 56^th overall pick in 2022, appeared in 15 games with the Charge this year.

In the deal, Cleveland gets a strong combination of playoff-tested experience and young potential. 

Schröder, the 13-year vet, has played in almost 900 career games, 74 in the postseason; Ellis, a versatile 26-year-old defensive menace who’s also shot 42 percent from three-point range over his four-year career.

Cleveland loses its top bench scorer in De’Andre Hunter, who won his first 15 games as a Cavalier after being acquired one year ago. 

Hunter joined his college teammate Ty Jerome last season and the two finished 3^rd and 4^th in Sixth Man voting. Over the summer, Jerome signed a free agent deal with Memphis, and this season Hunter had fluctuated between starting and coming off the bench. His 14.0ppg was still tied for third on the team this season, but his shooting numbers from the floor and long-range were down. 

After being taken with the 17^th overall pick back in 2013, Schröder has played for the Hawks, Thunder, Lakers, Celtics, Rockets, Raptors, Nets, Warriors, Pistons and Kings – with whom he scored 21 points on 6-of-12 from the floor, 3-of-5 from deep against the Cavaliers less than two weeks ago. 

Over the course of his career, the Braunschweig, Germany native has career averages of 13.9 points, 4.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 882 regular season games. As a member of Team Germany, he took home 2025 FIBA EuroBasket MVP honors and was the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup MVP, leading Germany to its first World Cup title and EuroBasket titles.

Keon Ellis has played 196 regular season games (54 starts) with the Kings after going undrafted out of Alabama in 2022. The 6-5, 175-pounder was easily the Kings top perimeter defender and immediately upgrades the Cavaliers backcourt on that end. Ellis has 12 games this year with multiple steals, including a six-pick game against the Blazers in mid-December. 

But Ellis is also a solid shooting threat, connecting on better than 40 percent from three-point range in three of his first four seasons in the league. Last year, he shot .433 (139-of-221) from beyond the arc.

“After careful evaluation and a clearer view of the Eastern Conference landscape, we believe adding Dennis and Keon strengthens our depth, expands our flexibility, and positions us to keep building a Championship caliber team now and into the future,” said Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations, Koby Altman. “In a season defined by its parity, this move better aligns us for a deeper postseason run.”

Emmanuel Miller, who went undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2024, has been a two-way player with the Bulls this year and has appeared in 11 games with Chicago over the last two seasons. In 62 G-League outings over the past two years, the 6-7, 215-pound native Canadian has averaged 17.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.10 steals.

The Deadline deal gives Coach Kenny Atkinson plenty of fun options in his backcourt rotation, which now includes Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Sam Merrill, Craig Porter Jr., Lonzo Ball, Tyrese Proctor, Schröder and Ellis. 

Winners of six of their last seven – including Sunday’s lopsided win in Portland – the Cavaliers are getting hot at the right time. 

And reinforcements are on the way.