(SP) – The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly reviewing trade paperwork after a flurry of deals before the deadline left their roster at just three players — LeBron James, 21-year old Croatian big man Ante Zizic and retired Cav Mark Price — along with 17 2nd Round draft picks in 2019.
“In the rush to remake the roster, there’s a chance we may have failed to read all the deal language closely and keep track of our changing inventory of players,” said Cavaliers GM Koby Altman. “I will say that even with the dust now settling, we have the best player in basketball in LeBron James, the second-greatest Cav in history in Mark Price and a young kid I think has a lot of potential upside in Zizic. I expect all three to get heavy minutes down the stretch.”
Altman said the Cleveland front office is conducting an internal review on how it ended up trading away the majority of its roster without getting much but the rights to a 54-year old point guard and more than a dozen 2nd Round picks in return.
“From what I can tell, we gave Utah a list of player we were open to dealing, which was pretty much all of them,” said Altman. “And then to get Rodney Hood, we forgot to only put in the one player the selected in the official trade paperwork, so they got them all. Whoopsies. As for Price and all those picks? No idea currently.”
Altman repeatedly referred to James, Price and Zizic as “The new Big Three” and said the Cavaliers are well-positioned now for the future.
“We are massively under the cap and can go after the top five or 10 free agents in the offseason,” he said. “I’d give us an A+ if you’re grading our deadline deals. Or maybe just a regular A if you want to dock us on accidentally dealing away the whole roster.”
Price said he is excited to end his decades-long retirement and return to action.
“I like where the NBA is right now,” he said. “I think it’s a good fit for my game because shorts are getting tighter and shorter.”
