The Cleveland Cavaliers have always struggled to put reliable role players behind their dominant front-court duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Names like Robin Lopez, Damian Jones, and the second run of crypto king Tristan Thompson were the previous guys who occupied that role. The front office now has an upgraded solution to this issue.
It was announced on Tuesday afternoon via Shams Charania that the Cavaliers and Thomas Bryant have agreed on a one-year deal. It might sound hyperbolic, but this
is a massive get for Cleveland.
Bryant provides the Cavaliers with depth that they have not had in nearly a decade for their frontcourt. With the Indiana Pacers, since being acquired on December 15th, Bryant averaged 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15.1 minutes over his 56 regular season games.
Now, the Cavaliers have a frontcourt rotation of Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Larry Nance Jr and now Thomas Bryant. That is a massive leap for this Cavaliers team, that is currently strapped by the NBA’s CBA restrictions.
Koby Altman deserves a lot of praise for finding ways to add non-fodder level players at this point of the off-season. Bryant was in discussion for the New York Knicks and contemplating signing overseas as well. Some of the best moves for building team depth are the subtle ones, the not so headline grabbing types of transactions. This move fits under that description.
If Bryant hits for the Cavaliers, he is someone that the coaching staff doesn’t have to cross their fingers and hope the team doesn’t get crushed when he’s on the court. Too many times, with reserve bigs for Cleveland, it has been a best-case scenario of “well, that wasn’t so bad!” Bryant should be able to solve that issue.
With the move, Cleveland will have one roster slot open. Based on how the team has operated the past several seasons, they would be expected to keep that spot vacant until after the trade deadline. They still have one unfilled two-way slot.
