J. Kyle Mann

He is a free agent or can be a free agent in the 27 offseason.

And so there is some sense of urgency.

Yeah, it's interesting though, Kyle, because I think you really had to lean into one direction ultimately is where Mitchell kind of forced them into because you would look at the roster and say like, oh, our future is Garland, Mobley, and Mitchell is just kind of what we're doing until we get to the point where those guys can perhaps be our frontline guys, Mobley in particular.

But it seems like they were more focused on Mitchell

potentially keeping him long-term or like taking an advantage of what they have now.

I just don't see what they have with heart and really appreciably changing their trajectory this season.

And so for that reason, I'm a little flaccid on this, especially when you consider the Clippers just got back an all-star point guard who was 10 years younger and is just, as soon as he gets through these toe injuries, like might just be able to be a pretty transformative player for them.

So I don't know.

I'm a little lukewarm on what they ended up doing.

Just let the ear out of the whoopee cushion or something.

Absolutely.

Because it's both toes now, right?

Yeah, I get it from the Cavs point of view.

I also think that there's a world in which Harden unlocks perhaps some of the step backs that Evan Mobley has been dealing with this season.

He's just the pick and roll master.

Can he learn from him for a year or two?

And all of a sudden he's on a different level to himself.

The added learning step backs.

But I often find at the deadline, the teams that take advantage of another team's desperation are the ones that ultimately win in the long run.

I do think we'll talk about the bowls later, but I do think getting Jaden Ivy at his lowest value is actually a good piece of business.