Cavaliers acquire second-round pick in deal with Kings

The rights to forward Sasha Vezenkov are headed to the Kings in the deal.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, have acquired another pick in tonight’s NBA Draft.

Per Woj, the Cavs have sent the rights to forward Sasha Vezenkov to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for the 49th pick in the second round. As of now, the Cavs have four picks in the draft: Nos. 14, 39, 49 and 56.

Vezenkov is a 26-year-old forward originally drafted in the late second round by the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. His rights were acquired by the Cavs in 2021 when Cleveland acquired Jarrett Allen from the Nets as part of the multi-team deal that sent James Harden to Brooklyn. It seems unlikely he’ll ever move to the NBA, so getting a second round pick for him seems like good business from Koby Altman and Cleveland’s front office .

This deal also seems like it sets up the Cavs to do something else in this draft. Using all four picks feels unlikely, so maybe this is as a set-up to do another deal where those picks are consolidated to move up into the first round again or as part of a bigger deal where the Cavs acquire a player. Cleveland drafting four players simply feels unlikely.