Is LeBron James TEASING The Cleveland Cavaliers?! | LeBron Watch 3.0 Update | Lonzo Ball’s IMPACT

Is LeBron James TEASING The Cleveland Cavaliers?! | LeBron Watch 3.0 Update | Lonzo Ball’s IMPACT

On today’s show, is LeBron watch 3.0 a thing? Are we doing that? Yeah, we have to talk about that. Plus, it’s a week into the off seasonason. How have the Cavs fared so well? Spencer Davies joins me on today’s edition of Locked on Cavs. You are Locked on Cavs, your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. What’s up everybody? My name is Danny Cunningham. You might know me from my time covering the Cleveland Cavaliers, places like my Substack, The Inside Shot, Cleveland Magazine, 923 The Fan, and a number of other stops along the way. I want to say thank you to you for making Lockdown Cavs your first listen today and every day. You can find this show anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else. Make sure you drop us a fivestar rating, leave us a nice review, and of course, be a friend. Tell a friend about Locked on Calves. Make sure you’re subscribed and make sure a friend is subscribed as well. If you’re watching on YouTube, hit that thumbs up button as we get started here. And of course, the show part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel because right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. That is $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Spencer, this past weekend, I was at a wedding. Uh, two of my friends from college were wed on Friday night and we were dry. It was in Canton, Ohio, the Hall of Fame city. So, of course, my fiance and I had a hotel for the night. We were just planning on staying in Canton. And we get about halfway from Cleveland, where we live, to Canton, and she is glued to Twitter because there’s some stuff going on. Well, what comes out on Friday on Twitter is a photo of one LeBron James at the Cavs practice facility and she looks at me and she goes, “Are we going to have to leave this wedding if something happens with LeBron and the Cavs tonight?” And of course, nothing happened um other than LeBron actually going out there and trying to shut stuff down on Twitter, which I don’t know if that means anything at all. I don’t know if any of this means anything, but it is something that we do have to talk about. So, just from a 30,000 foot view, what do you make, Spencer, of the fact that we are having a LeBron watch 3.0 conversation in the year 2025? Nobody plays the game better than LeBron James. And I’m not talking about on the basketball court. I’m talking about from a leverage standpoint and putting pressure on an organization that in his mind probably doesn’t have enough right now to compete for a championship. And another thing too, I think when LeBron James is not the alpha of a team, he takes it a certain way and it’s a little bit different nowadays because he’s 41 years old. Luca Donuch is there. He might be second fiddle and he’s not used to that position. So there just might be a little bit of disdain. I don’t think that you can be gaslit into telling me that none of this matters. It’s not about coming to Cleveland. It’s not about being a part of the Cavs organization, but this guy’s known what he’s done for his entire career. Okay. The Trail of Bread come started, I think, on Thursday. He’s over on the golf course over at Portage. He’s got
Wednesday. He was playing on Wednesday. And how do I know this, Spencer? Because as I covered in the podcast last week and I believe I texted you um I have a family member who is a member at that country club and said family member asked me to golf Wednesday at 8:20 and at 8:05 I get a text from this family member that says Danny you are not going to believe this. LeBron James is on the first tee in the group ahead of me right now. So, I am very famili multiple times and I have gotten to the point to where I have let my thinking for this go. Not, you know, if LeBron does get bought out and signs with the Cavs, what does that mean? What does the the roster look like? What my mind has gone to is if LeBron gets bought out and signs with the Cavs, maybe he will join Portage Country Club and I will be playing with my family member in the member guest in a match against LeBron and J.R. Smith. That’s where my mind has gone. Or or you know the hat here. That also would make a lot of sense just being an Akran. But the trail of breadcrumbs that he always leaves is fascinating to me. And it’s very subtle, but it’s not subtle because everybody tracks this guy’s Instagram, his Twitter, all these people telling you that you don’t have a life because you’re looking at these signs and you’re saying he knows exactly what he’s doing, but they’re going to gaslight you and tell you it doesn’t mean anything. He’s just minding his own business. He’s living his life. Okay. So, you start with the welcome home hat at Portage and then you go on the comment on Alli Clifton’s Instagram where she’s wearing along with her significant other a LeBron James Cavs jersey on the lake and he says proper attire with a winky face. And then you go as far as to go uh in fourth of July where Denver Jones, which congratulations to Denver Jones by the way, a member of the Cavs summer league roster and he gets the first picture with LeBron and they are inside Cleveland Clinic courts with a Cavs logo showing. And I think that was the kicker for me because you allowed yourself to be in the spotlight in another organization’s gym being under contract with a different team. I think that is the chef’s kiss, but I also think that was the point where I was like, “All right, there’s nothing to any kind of rumor about him being in the wine and gold. He is just putting on that public pressure.” And you can say, “Yeah, he works out at the cast facility every single summer.” But I don’t remember the last time we saw pictures of it. And I also don’t want to be gas lit into this because of the trail, because of how many things have been done to this point. And I think a lot of Lakers fans are a little bit insecure because they see us talking about it and they’re like, “It means nothing. It means nothing. It means nothing.” And yeah, in terms of moving teams or coming to Cleveland, it means nothing. But the pressure that he’s putting on Rob Pelinka and their organization to try and make moves so that they’re in position to compete in a very loaded west, I think that has a lot of of of what to do with with what he’s been posting.
And we have seen this playbook, I think, a number of different times from James. We’ve seen it in but in in different ways. And Spencer, I was having this conversation with somebody like different guys have different ways of making things uncomfortable when they’re unhappy. Like for instance, Jimmy Butler. He is just going to be a jerk. When he’s unhappy somewhere, he’s going to be the worst person in the world to be around. I don’t think that is LeBron’s DNA. That’s not how LeBron is built. What LeBron is going to do, and I don’t even know if this is calling like I don’t know if we can even call this cryptic at this point because I’m not sure. I think we are past that point. Um, but he’s going to do these subtle things. I I mean, remember the the subweets of Kevin Love. Remember how unhappy he was when the Cavs were 19 and 20 in January back in 2015 when Dion Waiters was still on the roster. Kind of pressuring the Cavs into making some moves. Of course, they were able to turn what they had into Aman Shumpert and J.R. Smith and Tim Mazgov and those were really good moves for them and then seeing the pressure or how unhappy parts of that 2017 2018 season were before the Cavs made just a massive trade at the trade deadline to completely flip the roster over. We are seeing this now maybe for the first time, maybe the second time actually I think because I do think there was one other thing um where he I believe it was when the All-Star game was here in Cleveland that he gave a quote. It might have been to Joe Varden of the Athletic that he could see himself finishing his career in Cleveland and that was a a pressure play on the Lakers and we have seen him do this but I think the fact that he’s doing this now opted into his contract. Rich Paul gave the quotes to ESPN that he did. Um I think one this is a big pressure play, but I I don’t know how this can pay off, right? Like I look at at what you mentioned about the Lakers. Like I do not view them as a contender out west. Western Conference is far too good. Now Luca is I think one of the best players in the Western Conference. Not the best, but one of them. LeBron is still an allNBA caliber player, but I don’t look at them as a team that says yes, they can get significantly better. Like I do think that this is a pressure play, but I ultimately don’t look at this and say, “Yeah, LeBron’s probably going to get bought out,” which might be the thing that he wants. But I don’t know that that’s going to happen.
Get bought out after getting paid your 52 M would be an insane master class from LeBron. But why in the world would the Lakers do that? And that’s my question to a lot of the people that are like, “Oh, he’ll just come over to Cleveland after he’s a free agent.” And I’m just like, he’s not a free agent. He’s probably going to be really hard to trade for. Also, the I think people saw the wave and stretch of Damen Lillard and now that’s the standard and
they’re not going to stretch him. They’re not going to wave and stretch him. I would be very surprised if they buy him out.
Like my my firm expectation and
so I actually think what this matters for
um my expectation is LeBron James will be playing for the Lakers this year. But LeBron James, we know this for certain, LeBron James will be an unrestricted free agent next year.
Now, the Cavs are going to be a very expensive team next year. They’re not going to be a team that’s operating in cap space. We we know those things to be true. But if there is a LeBron and the Cavs reunion, and of course there is a long time and there’s a lot of basketball to be played between now and then, but if this were to happen, I just wonder what the conversations that we are going to be having 365 days from right now about this subject are.
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I’m not sure. I think you obviously welcome him with open arms depending on what the contract would be and if you’re able to offer the contract that he wants. That’s another thing that you’re thinking about. But I wanted to get your thoughts on this too because I’ve been asked about it all week in terms of when this all started, right? He opts in and then the Cav stuff starts coming to mind before he even posts anything. Like this has been a conversation for a week and a half, two weeks and people talking about LeBron maybe requesting a trade or subtly hinting at whatever the subliminal message king he’s truly an artist, but what I’m in the mindset of I would not do this, but I want to know what you would think. Would you go through all the maneuvering you have to go through with the Cavs and trade away four to five players to get LeBron James, 41 years old, on a one-year contract potentially in his last season in the NBA? Would you do that in order to push this team to that top of the echelon where I think they already kind of are anyway, right? But the this is a conversation that’s been all over Cleveland right now. And to me, it’s just not the same as it was before. I think the ideal LeBron might be better than what LeBron is now. And this could come back and bite me in the ass so bad, but I I am in the mindset of the allure is not the same to me and CZ have a good thing going right now. And why mess with it?
I for the most part, I agree with that. Now, like if he gets bought out, I think it’s a different story.
I would not trade, if I am Kobe Alman, I would not trade what the Cavs would have to trade in order to get LeBron. And I wouldn’t do it for a couple of reasons. One, LeBron is going to be 41 in December. And he was an allNBA caliber player last year. Is he going to be that this year? I don’t know. Is he going to play after this year? I don’t know. But I know you can’t trade primarily for me, you can’t trade Darius Garland for a guy who might be playing in his last year and you don’t know what he’s going to be. Like that to me is the is the sticking point here. Like would I be fine if they traded Jarrett Allen or DeAndre Hunter or Max Shrews? Sure. But I would not trade a 25-year-old twotime all-star in order to trade for a 41-year-old who is the greatest player in NBA history in my opinion. But I just don’t think that that is worth it. The other thing too, Spencer, and I think I touched upon this on one of the the episodes I did last week, but look at what the Boston Celtics are doing right now. They’re taking a gap year. And part of it is because Jason Tatum tore Achilles and that was not a preventable thing. Like, and I think they were going to take a gap year anyways. They were going to have to trade guys like, you know, I I think the Drew the fact that the Celtics were going to trade Drew Holiday was the worst kept secret in the NBA for the last several months. But they are now because they are making these trades going to at a certain point, maybe it’ll be next season, maybe it’ll be two seasons from now, they’re going to have a re-imagined team around Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and maybe Derrick White too. The Cavs at a certain point are going to have to break up their score for financial reasons. They’re not going to like Jared Allen. I would bet a lot of money that Jared Allen does not finish the contract extension that he signed last summer with the Cavs. I really think he will be traded at some point. I think there’s a strong chance Darius Garland gets traded at some point. At a certain point, the Cavs are going to have to remake a core around Evan Mobley and maybe Donovan Mitchell, but I don’t know about him in order to find like a second championship window around Evan Mobley. If they were to trade what they need to trade for LeBron right now, that is not happening because those assets are going to be gone. And what you get to show for them are a 41-y old LeBron. And that might help you right now. We don’t know because of his age. But, you know, three, four, five years down the road when the Cavs have to look different. Nevin Moy is in his prime and should be somebody that is, you know, competing for MVPs, first team allNBAs. When you get to that point, if you don’t have some of those assets that you’re going to have to trade away in a couple of years, if you do not get a return on those, if your return is LeBron, you are going to have to trade Evan Mobley down the road. Like trading for LeBron, if that were the thing, you know that meme where it’s like the one really small domino is like some minor event and then it’s the big domino, right? like trading for LeBron would ultimately be I think the first domino in having to eventually trade Evan Mobley and that is not something that I think should happen. No. And you’re leaving your cupboard empty again.
Yes.
And that’s a really tough thing to build a team again. You’re right back to square one. You’re at like 2018 2019 season. You’re at 2019 2020 season. This is what your team becomes. And I just don’t think taking a chance for that all for one year to have a chance because the East might be a little bit up for the taking as compared to past years. I just don’t I think it’s bad business to do that. And I think it’s it’s not smart when you have a really really good thing going and you’re still probably going to be able to have pretty much the same team for the next couple years. Like it’s not just that it’s over after this year.
It depends on what happens. Like I think they got to get to the finals. Do they have to win the finals? I I don’t think so. But if they get
they get to the finals and say they lose 42 to the Thunder or something like that, then you’re like, “Okay, yeah, we can we can do this.”
If you’re out in the second round, then you’re going to have ridiculous changes anyway. Something weird’s going to happen that way. But if they’re able to do that, get to the next step, which is the finals, and they put up a fight, then they’ll probably bring back pretty much the same team again the next year,
I would imagine. And the team, Spencer, has changed from what they were last year to what they are now. So, we are going to talk about, we’re done talking about LeBron. We’re going to talk about the actual things that have happened, like the actual moves that the Cavs have made and things that have actually happened this offseason next right here on Locked on Cavs. Today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green like I am, or high stakes soccer action, is the soccer high stakes right now, I have no idea because I really don’t watch soccer. And right now, baseball just makes me sad. We’re recording this at 12:45 Sunday afternoon. I am going to assume that the Guardians lost again because that is all they know how to do at this point. But you can make even watching them lose fun with FanDuel. Because if you’re already following the action, why not make it a little bit more thrilling with FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned on the beach. I did actually, and again, recording this 12:45 Sunday afternoon. Uh, I went on FanDuel today and I took an alternate strikeout line for Terk Scubble, the starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers on Sunday against the Guardians. I bet him to have 12 or more strikeouts because that is how little confidence that I have in the Cleveland Guardians right now. So maybe you’re like me and while I want them to win, I’ve got no faith. I might as well try and capitalize on that on that lack of faith. And if you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Again, just bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started. Thank you again for making Lockdown Cavs your first listen today and every day. Like I said earlier, you can find the show anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else. Make sure to drop us a fivestar rating. Leave us a nice review and of course be a friend. Tell a friend about the show. Spencer, I don’t believe you and I have had a podcast since the Cavs started making moves, but let’s just recap everything that has been done in the last 10 days. The Cavs started things off by trading Isaac Aoro straight up for Lonzo Ball. No draft picks involved. They signed Sam Merrill to a new four-year contract worth, I believe, $38 million, which is roughly $9.5 million per year. Ty Jerome left the team via free agency to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies on a three-year deal worth $28 million. The final year being a player option, which I believe was certainly a smaller contract than I anticipated Tai getting. And then lastly, the Cavs came to terms with Larry Nance Jr. on a minimum contract for the next season. So, just overall, what do you make of what the Cavs have done so far? I just think there’s a little bit of a difference in terms of the bench. Lonzo Ball is not going to be the scorer that Ty Jerome is, but he will be a ball mover. I think one of his most attractive characteristics is the way that he launches the ball up the floor after he gets a rebound. And it’s almost akin to what like Kevin Love would do. Those kind of threequarters court move the ball up the floor. You know, you saw a lot of it from Tyresese Hallebertton this year, like those types of passes. And also, when he’s catching the ball, he’s not it’s not sticking. He’s going to immediately get it to the next guy. I think there was something about um after a catch, he was like in the 88th percentile in terms of like passing it. Um where like Ty Jerome, I think, was like in the 30s or something like that. They’re just stylistically very different. But I think that you cannot, and I cannot emphasize this enough, you cannot replace Tai Jerome with one player. Not with this roster right now. So, it’s gonna be by committee. You’re going to have to have Lonzo Ball. You’re going to have to have Craig Porter Jr. And you’re going to have to figure out Jaylen Tyson’s role in all this, too. So, I feel like those guys might be able to try and obviously Sam Merrill’s a part of that, too. But you cannot replace Ty Jerome and the way that he scored last year putting pressure on the rim with all of those floaters and the transition three-pointers and just really he’s just the engine of that second unit. So that’s not easily replaceable. I can’t say it enough. I don’t know if I agree with the strategy. I know that Kenny Atinson loves Sam Merrill and they clearly chose between the two and he’s going to get paid for it and good for him. That’s a great story. 60th pick overall and then first uh pick in the G-League draft in 2023 and all of a sudden now Sam is getting his his money. So, I’m very happy for Sam Merrill and I think he’s a good player. Defensively, Kenny loves him. I think Kenny also loves the fact that he brings that offball juice and attracts attention in the half court and that was really what was the sticking point and they wanted a little bit more defense on the perimeter. So, that’s the Tai Jerome move and I’m sure we’ll get to the next couple.
Well, the thing that I there’s a couple things that that I just kind of want to touch on from what you said. I I don’t know that in terms of the scoring, I do know Lonzo Ball is not going to replace Tai Drone scoring output, right? Like that’s not Lonzo’s game. What I do think and I I agree it’s going to have to be by committee, but there’s I think a very important member of that committee that you did not mention, and that is Evan Mobley. I think that Evans scoring is going to have to go up without Tai Drone being there. And I think Lonzo Ball being on the roster and probably playing in some of those second units, right? Like we saw a lineup last year pretty frequently that had Tai, Evan, and Donovan in it. If you slide Lonzo Ball into that spot, I do think that is a lineup that can showcase Evan Mobley more because I don’t know that sticky is the right word, but there were times when I think Tyrone could get tunnel vision with the basketball in his hands and Lonzo Ball is not a victim of that whatsoever. That never happens with him. Um, so I do think that you look at this, okay, well, Lonzo is not going to take as many shots as Tai. He’s probably not going to be as efficient either. Like I would not anticipate having the same shooting season that Tai had last year, but I do think some of those shots that Tai was taking that aren’t going to Lonzo, so to speak, are going to Evan Mobley instead. And I think that could be a really good thing for the Cavs. And ultimately, what I look at as the Cavs strategy is they saw what Oklahoma City was able to do and they saw what the Pacers could do. And the thing that I think those two teams had in common is they had very few players that were one-way guys, right? Like Tyrese Hallebertton would get attacked defensively, but he’s a 6’5 guard and he’s, you know, I think he held up fine certainly against the Cavs on that end of the floor. But the Cavs had Ty Jerome, who for as good as he was offensively, he’s never been a good defender. He had like this run of steals early in the season and then teams figured out what he was doing and you just never saw it again. But he got mercilessly hunted in the playoffs defensively. Um you look at bringing in Larry Nance Jr. who I think can play two ways. I think Lonzo Ball is a two-way player. So you lose Tai who is a one-way player. Isaac Aoro, nobody was going to defend him ever in the playoffs. He has played in five postseason series and not once has an opposing team defended him seriously in the postseason. So I do think that Cleveland’s strategy so far in making their offseason moves has been how do we stack as many guys that are positive contributors both offensively and defensively given the limited resources that the Cavs have to improve. And I think that they’ve done a great job of doing that.
So you can’t get played off the floor on either end.
Yes. So that was the right there. Yeah.
While while Lonzo is not the shooter that Tai is, because of how much force he plays with with the basketball in his hands and how much playmaking he does for others, you can’t ignore him offensively. Even if he’s only going to only going to shoot 37% from three. Like he’s somebody you can’t ignore offensively. And defensively, he’s a plus. Most definitely. I think his IQ really with Lonzo is is what speaks to me. But that’s a really good point because you know Isaac Aoro probably couldn’t play most of the playoffs because he couldn’t make shots, right? But he was amazing defensively. And then you look at the flip side with Ty Jerome offensively this guy could give you 30 off the bench if you wanted to. But on the other end, if he’s getting hunted mercilessly is the way you put it and got played out of a series against Indiana, then that’s a really good point. They want guys that cannot just be targeted on either end. That makes a lot of sense to me and I think you put that very very nicely. The thing with Lonzo and Larry that is the elephant in the room here that we have not addressed is health and the amount of minutes they going to play. So Lonzo, this was insane to me when I was looking up on basketball reference when they traded for him. He’s played 70 games in the last four years, which is nuts. He actually hasn’t played a single playoff game in his career, too, by the way. And then with Larry Nance Jr., we know what Larry brings to the table. He’s going to get you all the tipbacks. He’s going to get you all the tipins. He’s an improved three-point shooter, especially from the corner. Did a very good job in Atlanta and and even in New Orleans. I think that he’s got to be able to stay on the floor. That is the biggest thing with him. And he’s only going to be playing probably 15 to 20 minutes a night if I had to guess. enough to buy you some time for an Evan Mobley, for you know, with Lonzo Ball, for a Darius Garland, or a Donovan Mitchell. I’m sure we’ll see a three guard lineup with those those guys, too, because Lonzo’s big enough to hold his own on that end, too. So,
I think that it’s a decent tradeoff. It is inherently a risk, though, because of their injury histories. So, you take the good with the bad and then you hope that this performance staff, which did an excellent job last year, Kenny Atinson spoke so highly of that crew. You got to depend on them to make sure they’re taking care of their bodies. You got to give them limitations on certain nights that on the backtobacks and you got to make sure that they come through healthy by the time that April rolls around and then you’re good to go to throw them out there and and do their thing. And I think that’s the biggest thing for me is making sure that those two are healthy because the the most important thing that Kobe talked about was improving on the margins. And I think that was the goal. And I feel like in a vacuum they’ve done that if if those two can stay healthy. And they still have an open roster spot and a two-way contract open, too.
Yes. And I I think there’s one other thing that those two both bring to the table for Kenny Atinson that’ll allow him to be a little creative. So, we’re going to talk about that next right here on Locked on Cast. So, when I look at these moves, too, it’s not just that they’re both two-way guys, Spencer. It’s that I think both of them provide Kenny Atinson a new level of versatility and creativity that he maybe didn’t have before as a coach. Because what’s one of the one of the biggest gripes that I think a lot of fans had in particular with Sam Merrill is that he would play a lot of small forward and Sam for as much as he fights defensively when he’s matched up with some of these bigger wings like it’s just not a matchup you want him to be in like the lineup that would have him Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome where you are playing three guards there Sam is the best defender of that bunch where now a three guard lineup with Lonzo Ball Sam Merryill and Donovan Mitchell is much different because Sam can guard his natural position because Lonzo can defend so many threes. And then with Larry, I look at it as a home run because the Cavs have been searching for a third big and finding a third big in their their particular situation, I think, is really difficult because the ideal third big is somebody that can play alongside either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley. And I think Larry is the rare guy that can because because of that shooting piece. Now, he’s never been a great high volume three-point shooter, but he has shot a respectable percentage since he left Cleveland in the summer of I believe it was 2021. Um, since he left Cleveland, he’s been a respectable three-point shooter. So, I do think that he can play four alongside Jared Allen and he can play the five alongside Evan Mobley if need be. And I think that is a big boost for Kenny Atinson just in terms of lineup flexibility.
Swiss Army knife. And he’s a guy that we know loves to play through the middle. Does the dribble handoff thing. He got he gets to the middle and does that like little move and think about it now because he did not have a Sam Merrill to play with the last time he was here or a Max Strus to play with. Those guys canuate his his strengths in terms of that part part of his game. So I agree with you. the fact that he can play the five or the four is very important. I think his playmaking um piece to it is is gonna be big as well. And that’s a you know, we can go down the list for all the backup bigs the Cavs have had. Like we’ll exclude Dean Wade from this because he clearly is, but like I’m going and I’m thinking Robin Lopez, Damen Jones, Tristan. Uh am I
not guys that you want in a not guys that you want in a playoff setting, right? Exactly. But like like those were the type of guys they were bringing in and since they had to to move Larry, they haven’t had any. And now they have it back and they have it with a coach that has a different philosophy, too. So, I’m intrigued by it. I really am. But I I don’t see him getting more than 15 to 20 minutes a night, but they’re going to be very impactful 15 to 20 minutes. And again, I think you have to have a program for him. You have to have a program for Lonzo to make sure they’re getting the proper nutrition, to make sure that they’re getting the proper conditioning and that they don’t get any of these soft tissue injuries that have held him back before.
I mean, that is going to be the thing. And they talk so much after the season about the regular season. I I hesitate to say not matter. Um, that is what Donovan kind of alluded to after the Cavs season ended prematurely, but this is all going to be about the postseason. And if Lonzo was healthy for the postseason, if Larry Dance Jr. is healthy for the postseason, the Cavs are going to feel as if they are in a better spot than they were this time last year, right? Like they are going to have to feel better about themselves going into the postseason than they did last year, even if they felt great then.
Most definitely. And you have to. And you got a little bit more size, too. I think that’s another part of this. You got a little bit taller, a little bit longer. Um, and that’s always a plus when it comes to the playoffs because we see how many people have that wingspan or they’re just built like rocks. You know, the Aaron Niss of the world, the Lud Dorts of the world. Um, you have another offseason to get stronger, too, in terms of your internal roster. So, it’s it’s going to be different uh as far as what they look like coming back in the fall. excited to see what happens at training camp and excited to see what happens at summer league and I’m sure that you’ll get to that too.
Yeah. Yeah, certainly excited. Um we will have plenty of summer league coverage later on on Lockdown Cavs. Maybe not today’s episode, Spencer. I’m sure you and I will uh do at least one podcast together in Vegas. Uh we’re both going to be out there, not for the first couple of games, but for games three and four, um we’ll both be there watching the Cavs play, so that’ll be certainly exciting. But where can everyone find your stuff? Yeah, I’m spin Davies on Twitter and on Instagram. You can also find my stuff over at Cleveland Cavaliers on SI the YouTube channel and si.com/nba/cavaliers. Everybody doing a great job there. Spencer German, Anthony Meglin, Brendan Gulick running a good good tight ship there. Uh we are also, not we, I am also over at rg.org. Uh we have such great coverage of the NBA offseason going on over there. Uh, I am, this is a moment where I’m gonna say like, you know, act like you’ve been there, but I am really excited. I got my first national story broken, uh, this past week as far as um, contract details with Miles Turner and the Pacers um, offer. I thought that u, that was a really big moment for me. So, little small pat on the back, but uh, congratulations to you.
Thank you, sir. Uh, but that’s over at rg.org. I also do NBA draft coverage for Babcock, Hoops, and all other sorts of outlets. I I write for work for behind the scenes. Uh still trying to to find those ones that stick, but uh in a good spot and can’t wait to get out to Sin City.
It’ll be uh it’ll be a fun time. Can’t wait to be there. Cannot wait to uh you know, make you podcast with me about what we see from Tyrese Proctor in his summer league ventures for the Cavs. So,
Jackson Robinson, baby.
Sure, we’ll figure that out. But thanks so much to Spencer and thanks so much to you for making Locked on Cavs your first listen today and every day. You can find the show anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify or anywhere else. Make sure you drop us a fivestar rating. Leave us a nice review and of course be a friend. Tell a friend about Lock on Cavs. Make sure you’re subscribed. Make sure a friend is subscribed as well. And if you’re watching on YouTube as we get out of here, do me a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for me. Click subscribe. Hit that notification bell. We’ll be back tomorrow talking more about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On this episode of Locked On Cavs, Danny Cunningham (The Inside Shot, 92.3 The Fan, Cleveland Magazine) explores recent developments with the Cleveland Cavaliers, focusing on LeBron James rumors and offseason roster moves. Spencer Davies (Cavaliers on SI) joins to discuss LeBron’s social media activity and its potential implications for the Cavs. The podcast analyzes the team’s offseason strategy, including the acquisitions of Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance Jr., and how these moves impact the Cavaliers’ lineup flexibility. Danny and Spencer examine the importance of two-way players in the modern NBA and debate the wisdom of a potential LeBron James return. The episode also touches on the upcoming Summer League games in Las Vegas and the hosts’ plans for coverage. Throughout the discussion, Danny and Spencer provide expert insights on team dynamics, player performance, and the strategic decisions facing the Cavaliers’ front office as they prepare for the upcoming season.
Check out Danny’s Substack, The Inside Shot: https://theinsideshot.substack.com/
Email the show: LOCavsmailbag@gmail.com
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