NBA Trade Rumors: 5 destinations for Markieff Morris

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the talk of the Eastern Conference, as nobody has emerged as a legitimate challenger in the East so far this season. In a case of the rich getting richer, the Cavs can look for an acquisition or two to help them beat one of the three major Western Conference championship contenders.

One area that the Cavaliers may need work on before the NBA Trade Deadline is finding a defensive answer for Golden State’s Draymond Green, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, and San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard. The natural answer is LeBron James, but he needs to facilitate, more than commit to, defensive excellence should Cleveland want to win the city its first championship since 1964.

One answer to the Draymond Green issue is to go after Markieff Morris, a guy that can appropriately guard a player like Green in the NBA Finals. Morris plays in the Pacific Division with Green and may end up being the prototype in the NBA for figuring out how to defend the small ball era’s greatest mismatch in Green.

Cleveland let Joe Harris go, so the Cavaliers on have 14 men on their active roster. The Cavaliers have the big men that could suffice to pull off a trade with the Suns, but will likely have to give up considerably more than most teams in the East to make a trade for Morris work. If the Cavs want to win in June, they’ll do whatever it takes to acquire him. This trade could stand as a Timofey Mozgov type deal that helped get the Cavaliers into title contention mode last season.

Next: Detroit Pistons