Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Draft Lottery Luck Leading to Some Major Questions: Wiggins or Embiid? Pursue LeBron if he Opts Out?
ByThe stars may just be aligning for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will be picking first overall a second consecutive year and will have a ton of cap space this offseason.
According to ESPN, the Cavaliers won the first overall pick in the draft lottery for the third time in the last four years. Last year, they took Anthony Bennett first overall and in 2011, it was Kyrie Irving, so is Andrew Wiggins next?
Chad Ford released his sixth mock draft with the updated first round order and predicted the Cavaliers, who had a 1.7 percent chance of landing the top pick, taking Wiggins, a six-foot-eight shooting guard from Kansas. Also on the minds of the Cavs' front office has to be Wiggins' former teammate, highly touted seven-foot center Joel Embiid, who is projected to go second overall.
"It seems surreal," Cavaliers vice chairman Jeff Cohen told ESPN after winning the lottery. "This is three out of four years, and we had a 1.7 percent chance of coming up with the first pick and we pulled it off again."
Irving, the team's star point guard, was also excited about the improbable lottery win. However, the recent stockpiling of high picks is not all that is exciting about the Cavs' offseason. With a huge amount of cap space, they will have the financial means to pursue a top-line free agent this summer.
LeBron James, who famously spurned the city of Cleveland by announcing he was "taking my talents to South Beach," could be due for a return. He can opt out of his contract with the Miami Heat this summer and he may have good reason to, especially if they lose in the conference finals to the Indiana Pacers.
With the first overall pick and a rising superstar in Irving, James could give Cleveland serious consideration this summer. What's more is the Cavs would have an opening at small forward with Irving at point, Bennett at power forward and (hypothetically) Wiggins at shooting guard.
The Cavs also have an opening for a head coach, which they could potentially use as a courting method for James.
Still, there are several roadblocks for James' return to Cleveland. First, he and owner Dan Gilbert had a public (and ugly) falling out after James' nationally televised decision. Second, several other teams will be pursuing if James opts out and the price tag will be extremely high. Third, the Heat could very well win their third title in a row with James, which was the entire reason he went to Miami, to win.