According to a report from Cleveland.com, Sacramento Kings’ shooting guard Ben McLemore has received trade interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with other teams in the Eastern Conference. From Cleveland.com’s Christ Haynes:
The Cavaliers, among with a handful of other Eastern Conference teams, have strong interest in trading for Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore, league sources told cleveland.com.
Many players on the Kings want to get out of a frustrating situation in Sacramento, per Haynes:
It’s widely known within league circles that agents have been pushing to get their clients out of Sacramento with the franchise embroiled in dysfunction and turmoil.
Small forward Rudy Gay wouldn’t mind a change of scenery, but Sacramento hasn’t received any offers to its liking.
McLemore has been largely disappointing since being selected 7th overall in the 2013 draft. Renowned for his shooting stroke in college, McLemore shot just 37.6% from the field and 32% from long range during his rookie year. He has improved a lot since then — he’s shooting 45.1% from the field and 37.2% from 3 this season — but he still isn’t where the Kings had hoped he would be at this point.
McLemore has played just 21 minutes per game this season, down from 32.6 last season. This is mainly due to the fact that he has had to compete for minutes with Marco Belinelli, but the fact that he hasn’t been able to convince George Karl to play him more than 21 minutes a game is a bit disconcerting. McLemore was a highly-regarded prospect at Kansas — many expected him to go first overall in the draft. He hasn’t yet quite developed into a starting-caliber NBA player, but he still has the potential to be good. He’s only 23 years old, and has good athleticism and a good looking shot. The defense is something that can be improved. McLemore wouldn’t be a bad target for a team like Cleveland, and maybe a fresh start is exactly what he needs.
