The Cavaliers have spent plenty of time imagining what comes next after the addition of Peyton Watson, but the move also came with a real cost: Max Strus is gone.
That matters because Strus was never just a shooter Cleveland could plug in and forget about. He gave the Cavs perimeter scoring when the frontcourt needed it, held his own on the glass for his size, defended well enough, and brought a steadying presence that mattered in a rotation still sorting through its back-end questions. He was a connector too, and that part of his game may have been just as important as the shotmaking.
Strus helped knit the whole thing together. He built real chemistry with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, especially in his first season with the team.
During that inaugural campaign, he found Allen for 82 assists, and only Darius Garland had more dimes to Allen that year with 93. Over Strus’ 172-game run with Cleveland across the regular season and postseason, the only players to assist on more of Allen’s buckets were Garland, with 280, and Donovan Mitchell, with 193.
That kind of link between the backcourt and frontcourt is not easy to replace.
Now the Cavaliers are left looking inward, and Sam Merrill is the name that jumps out. He has become one of the team’s most reliable floor spacers, and unlike Strus, he is coming off a breakout stretch of his own.
In the 2025-26 regular season, Merrill averaged 12.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists while hitting about 46.1% of his shots and 42.1% from three. He was one of only two Cavs, along with Tyson, to finish in the top 20 in 3-point percentage.
Merrill has also already climbed into notable franchise territory from beyond the arc. In just 189 games, he has knocked down 443 threes, good for 12th in team history. With Strus no longer in the picture, Cleveland may lean on Merrill more heavily than ever to supply the spacing that some lineups desperately need.
The Cavs have also shown plenty of trust in Merrill’s ability to move around the floor. Since joining the rotation, he has spent at least 52% of his minutes at small forward in every season, and that positional flexibility has helped keep him on the court. Some of that is about spacing and finding the right combinations, but it also speaks to how he fits with the rest of the roster.
He may not bring the same rebounding punch or playmaking feel that Strus offered, but Merrill has built solid chemistry with Cleveland’s bigs and gives ballhandlers a dependable outlet. That kind of connection could end up being the key to replacing at least some of what Strus brought to the Cavaliers.
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What came next is what really changed the franchises trajectory. Markkanens rise in Utah helped set the stage for another major swing, and the Cavs eventually packaged Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, Markkanen and draft picks to land Donovan Mitchell, a move that has since given Cleveland the kind of centerpiece it had been chasing. The two trades are connected in a way that still shapes the roster today, even if one of the key names involved ended up becoming an All-Star elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Donovan Mitchell May Be Facing A Cavs Role He Shouldn't Have To
The Cavaliers guard rotation already felt a little tight, and the recent moves only made that more obvious. Cleveland brought in Peyton Watson and sent out Tre Mann, a swap that leaves Kenny Atkinson with fewer reliable answers behind the main ballhandlers and puts more pressure on how the backcourt is arranged from night to night.
Donovan Mitchell is the obvious player to absorb some of that workload, even if it is not the role that best fits his game. He can handle the ball and keep the offense moving, but asking him to function more like a full-time point guard creates a different kind of strain on the lineup and the minutes chart, especially if the Cavs have to patch together those backup possessions without a true floor general. [Read more 🡒]