Brooklyn Nets forward Royce O’Neale came to Brooklyn this past offseason from the Utah Jazz in exchange for a first-round pick. While he provided the shooting and defense that he was known for along with an improved ability to handle the basketball, he almost ended up bringing that skill set to the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Fedor runs a Q&A segment for Cleveland.com called “Hey, Chris!” and in that, he answers questions from fans who are subscribed and meet the requirements to be able to ask questions to him about the Cavaliers. One of the questions that he answered was what is the biggest offseason for Cleveland and how they fill that need.
While explaining that the Cavs’ biggest need is the small forward spot, Fedor mentioned that the Cavaliers came close to addressing that need at the February trade deadline by being far down the road in trading for O’Neale. However, Fedor also says that Cleveland eventually decided against trading for the Baylor Bear.
Brooklyn is currently in the midst of an important offseason for the franchise as they have to decide if they’re going to rebuild or not. O’Neale has one more year left on his contract at $9.5 million so the Nets could decide to extend him as a way to either ensure that they’ll have his shooting on the roster or make it easier to trade him if the organization decides to enter a full rebuild.
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