Even amid a season where the Cleveland Cavaliers have underperformed, it’s hard to criticize their depth. Cleveland has seven players in total averaging 13-plus points per game this season, and 13 are averaging more than 12 minutes of playing time per contest.
Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor said that while speaking to a member of the Cavaliers’ front office recently, he was told that the team is comfortable playing its entire roster outside of “probably only two guys.” Those two players are guard Luke Travers and forward Chris Livingston.
Both Travers and Livingston are on two-way deals and still trying to prove that they belong in the best basketball league on the planet.
“I was having a conversation with a member of the Cavs’ front office yesterday over the phone, and we were talking about the depth that they’ve built with this roster and how they fortified the back end of it,” Fedor said.
“And the point that he was saying is that there are probably only two guys on this roster that there’s an uncomfortable feeling going to in any kind of situation. And it’s Luke Travers and Chris Livingston.
“And both those guys are on two-way contracts. So, what do you expect? I mean, the majority of teams around the NBA, if they have to play their two-way guys, the last two guys on the roster, it probably gets a little bit uncomfortable, unless you’re Oklahoma City and you’re just a cheat code.”
Beginning with Livingston, he’s in his maiden season with the Cavaliers after he played for the Milwaukee Bucks in his first two NBA campaigns. He was drafted by the Bucks with one of the last picks of the 2023 NBA Draft, going 58th overall.
The 6-foot-6 Ohio native holds NBA career averages of 1.4 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game across 45 total regular-season contests (and just 4.7 minutes per game). He’s appeared in just three games with the Cavaliers thus far this season. The last time he saw the floor for Cleveland was in its convincing victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 5. He logged just over two minutes of action in that contest.
Earlier this season, Livingston had a game against the Toronto Raptors where he gave the Cavs some quality minutes, as he totaled seven points, three boards, one assist and one steal in about 14 minutes of action. He’d certainly love to have more outings like that.
Unlike Livingston, Travers has only played for the Cavaliers to this point of his NBA career. Cleveland used the No. 56 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft on the Australian, and though he hasn’t been a consistent member of head coach Kenny Atkinson’s rotation this season, Atkinson has turned to him more than he’s turned to Livingston.
Travers has played in almost half of Cleveland’s 25 games this season, as he’s appeared in 11 contests after he played in only 12 games in all of last season. The challenge for Travers is that he’s averaging just 8.8 minutes per game in those 11 outings, so his opportunities have been limited.
As of now, the Cavaliers have enough depth to the point that they don’t need to rely on Travers or Livingston to produce night in and night out, but in the future, perhaps those guys will earn their way into the rotation firmly.