As the Cleveland Cavaliers prepare for an important offseason, they are watching the rival Indiana Pacers compete in the NBA Finals. One of the top thoughts on their minds must be how the Pacers fleeced the Cavaliers in a trade thre years ago that propelled Indiana into title contention.
In Fenruary 2022, the Cleveland Cavaliers were playing the best that they had in years. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen were in the midst of All-Star seasons, rookie Evan Mobley was a defensive titan, and multiple role players had stepped up to fill key roles.
Then point guard Ricky Rubio went down with a season-ending injury, and the Cavaliers went from being on track to host a playoff series to being questionable to make the playoffs altogether. In what appeared at the time to be something of a panic trade, the Cavaliers reached out to the Indiana Pacers and traded for swingman Caris LeVert.
The cost? One first-round pick, two seconds, and the expiring contract of Rubio.
LeVert was not able to help right the ship in Cleveland that season, as they fell into the Play-In Tournament and lost both games to be ejected from the playoff field altogether. That summer they made the blockbuster trade for Donovan Mitchell and became a perennial playoff team.
Caris LeVert spent three years in Cleveland, filling an important role as the team's Sixth Man most of the time. He played in 199 regular season games, averaging 12.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He improved as a defender and off-ball shooter to best fill the support role the Cavaliers needed him to fill, and he was viewed as a positive part of their team culture.
This past trade deadline, the Cavaliers used LeVert in a trade for Atlanta Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter, ending his tenure in Cleveland. His legacy lives on, however, as the Pacers thrive with their return from the trade.
The Cavaliers paid for multiple key pieces of the Pacers' current roster
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2022 second-round pick that the Cavaliers sent to the Pacers as a part of the LeVert trade belonged to the Houston Rockets, who finished at the bottom of the standings at the nadir of their rebuild. They ended up with the third overall pick, using it on Jabari Smith Jr., but their second-round pick was passed to the Pacers and meant Indiana got to select a player at 31.
They drafted Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard, a college teammate of Chet Holmgren, and his career immediately blossomed. He started 63 games as a rookie for the Pacers, and now in his third season is one of the better two-way support guards in the entire league. His defense on Jalen Brunson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been exemplary, and he has hit big shot after big shot for Indiana during this playoff run.
The first-round pick that the Cavaliers sent to Indiana from the LeVert deal landed 26th in the 2023 NBA Draft, and the Pacers used the pick on Ben Sheppard, a wing out of Belmont University. He is a key bench player for Indiana, enabling Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith to play high-intensity basketball because there is someone waiting to come in off the bench to relieve them. The Pacers' depth is key ot their identity and their success, and the reliable Sheppard is an important part of that.
At the time of writing, the Indiana Pacers have forced a Game 7 in the NBA Finals against the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder. Whether they win the title or not, they have proven themselves an exceptional two-way team, one that defeated the Cavaliers and advanced further than this core has ever been.
And who do they have to thank for that? Obviously multiple people and multiple transactions, including fleecing the Sacramento Kings to get Tyrese Haliburton and the Boston Celtics to get Aaron Nesmith. But they absolutely must thank the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made a panic win-now trade that didn't help them "win now" and in the process handed the Pacers two key pieces of a true championship-level roster.
That's a bitter pill for the Cavaliers to swallow.