Luke Travers is heading back to the Australian league after spending most of the last two seasons trying to carve out a spot in the NBA and G League.
The former Cavaliers wing has signed a two-year deal with Melbourne United of Australia’s NBL, the club announced. Bulls guard Josh Giddey, a fellow Australian who shares an agent with Travers, reportedly broke the news first on social media.
Travers, 24, spent the 2024-25 season with Cleveland on a two-way contract and then returned on another two-way deal last summer. The Cavaliers waived him in February.
At 6-foot-7, Travers appeared in 24 NBA games for Cleveland, though his minutes were mostly limited. He spent far more time with the Cleveland Charge, where his role was much bigger and the production backed it up: 17.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks across 36 G League games.
He shot 46.5 percent from the floor in the G League, but only 27.5 percent from 3-point range.
Cleveland had acquired Travers’ draft rights after taking him with the No. 56 overall pick in 2022. He stayed in Australia for two more seasons before making the move to the NBA in 2024. Now he’s back in a place he knows well.
Travers played for Melbourne in the 2023-24 season and helped United reach the NBL Finals. The team got back to the championship series the next year, but again came up short.
This time, Travers said the goal is clear.
“I’m obviously super excited to get another shot at winning a championship with United,” Travers said. “I’m coming into a group with a lot of really skilled, versatile players and veteran experience. I think the sky is the limit.”
His NBA run in Cleveland never really took off, but his G League numbers showed enough to suggest there’s more to his game than the limited NBA sample. Now he’ll have a bigger platform to show it back home.
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