NBA Rumors: Best free agent every team in Central Division should target
One free agent every team in the NBA's Central Division should target heading into the new calendar year.
By Matt Sidney
NBA Rumors: 1 ideal free agent every team in the NBA Central Division would benefit from signing.
Continuing our series on free agents that would make sense as mid-season acquisitions, today we examine the Central division with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Let's go team by team and predict one free-agent pickup that would make sense as a spark at this point in the season.
Cleveland Cavaliers: D.J. Augustin, PG
The man has nearly played in 1,000 career games for 11 different NBA franchises. He is undersized, especially for today's NBA. However, none of that matters. The Cavs are about as thin at guard as you can get, so any help will be welcomed. As noted above, D.J. Augustin has had quite a long career in the NBA. The Cavs could use someone with his experience in their backcourt.
Rookie Craig Porter has recently been seeing minutes as the backup. If the Cavs are looking to make a serious run in the playoffs, adding a veteran guard who connects on 38.1 percent of his threes might not be all that bad of an idea.
The added guard depth would also allow Donovan Mitchell some time to rest during the regular season, which could be paramount to their playoff success. Look at how many times Luka Doncic and the Mavericks eventually burned out in the playoffs due to the hero basketball he has had to play.
The Cavs' playoff chances rest on the shoulders of Donovan Mitchell. So why not bring in an experienced, established playmaker to help lighten the load a bit? This could be the last season the Cavs have with Mitchell, so I think they might as well get all the cheap/available assistance they can get in the meantime, in the hopes of a miracle run.