NBA Trade Deadline 2018: 5 trades to keep LeBron James happy in Cleveland

3. Getting younger

Cavs receive: Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson and Luke Kennard

Pistons receive: Channing Frye, Jae Crowder, Nets 2018 first-round pick and Cavs 2019 second-round pick

Part of the Cavs problem is that this team is really old, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about age. The only thing you can do to help yourself right away is to try to acquire younger players, and that’s just what this trade does.

This may be a reach by sending the Nets pick to the Pistons for non All-Star players, but on the flipside Johnson is under contract for another year, and Kennard is a rookie. The Nets pick is compensation for sending Kennard to the Cavs. If they didn’t want to deal him they could take him out, and the Cavs could just send a different pick or two.

The Cavs have James, and when he’s on the floor the offense runs through him. Bradley is a good enough shooter to contribute offensively, but his value to the team is more defensive than anything along with Stanley Johnson. Both are great defenders, and would fit in with what James likes offensively with shooter on the floor. Bradley is a free agent after this season, but Johnson is under contract for next season as well. Re-signing Bradley plus the additional players could be enough to say James to stay home.

The Pistons are currently a game back of the eight seed in the Eastern Conference, but in reality this isn’t the best roster makeup, and they might have to start over. They’d still have Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and Tobias Harris for the next few years so it wouldn’t be all bad. If they were to acquire the Nets pick then they could add a top-tier player through the draft to speed up what would be a mini rebuild.