Preview: Cavs Take On Hawks With A Shorthanded Roster Following A Wild NBA Trade Deadline

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be going up against the Atlanta Hawks on the road Friday in a game that might get ugly. Why things might get ugly is not because of the previous reasons, however. Tonight, the Cavs play shorthanded against the Hawks just a day after dealing half of their roster at the NBA Trade Deadline.

The Hawks, on the other hand, have put out the worst record in the entire NBA and are just holding on until a top draft pick comes in to become the newest face of the franchise. After only dealing Luke Babbitt on Thursday and completing a buyout with Marco Belinelli, the Hawks still have most of their roster intact. Look for guys like Taurean Prince and Dennis Schroeder to have success tonight if Atlanta can take advantage of the Cavs’ smaller roster.

For Cleveland, tonight’s gameplan is pretty simple: See what the young guys can do.

After dealing for four players yesterday, the Cavs will start Cedi Osman and dress Ante Zizic, John Holland, and London Perrantes for tonight’s contest. It will definitely be a scrappier game and a different-looking style of play, if only for one night. While Osman has played a decent amount of minutes, Zizic, Holland, and Perrantes have yet to play big minutes for the Wine and Gold. The group has spent significant time playing for the Cavs’ G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. It’ll be fun to see what they can do in the big leagues tonight.

With Jose Calderon starting, expect to see a lot of Perrantes or Holland due to the fact that Calderon is older and doesn’t need to log a tremendous amount of minutes. The Cavs may even sit LeBron down later in the game depending on how they’re gauging Friday’s contest.

Don’t sweat tonight’s game if Cleveland loses. With half of their roster still yet to suit up, this game will be rather funky.