NBA Trade Deadline 2018: Winners and losers

Loser: Dan Gilbert

The Cleveland Cavaliers could have potentially figured out a way to revitalize their team and make their fourth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals while getting younger players and creating a better atmosphere in the locker room and on the court. Even if all of that happens, Dan Gilbert will remain a loser from the results of the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline.

Reason one being that these moves his team made explode the Cavaliers luxury tax bill to a whopping $50 million according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Gilbert has reportedly been unwilling to pay too big of a luxury tax bill, so either he a) changed his mind or b) these moves were made with a bigger picture in mind. My assumption is that it’s more along the lines of b than a.

Gilbert has been unable to get LeBron to commit to staying in Cleveland past this season or to waive his no-trade clause and that leaves the team in limbo currently. Do you try to go all-in and win now while you still have the second greatest player of all-time on your roster or do you build a capable roster around him while holding options open to rebuild if James departs in the summer? Gilbert, in my opinion, went with the second choice. He has prized the 2018 Nets pick above all else this season and even though the hatchet was buried between himself and James the two still don’t see eye-to-eye.

Next: NBA Trade Deadline: GIF Grades

People don’t forget Comic Sans letters easily, but as LeBron has slipped further and further away from Cleveland it feels like Gilbert has tried harder and harder to put his stamp on this team. That stamp though doesn’t feel particularly strong at the moment.

The Cavaliers have been Gilbert’s team since he became majority owner in 2005, 12 years later he’s doing everything he can to showcase that it’s his voice the echoes loudest within the walls of Cleveland’s organization.