Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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For what seemed like an infinite amount amount of time, it was assumed that the Los Angeles Lakers would make a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ramon Sessions.  Part of the reason that this was almost a foregone conclusion is because Byron Scott was having a difficult time finding minutes for Kyrie Irving and Ramon Sessions.  Additionally, the Lakers have been in dire need of a starting point guard for a long time.  Derek Fisher has been the point guard for the Lakers since 2007 and before that Smush Parker played the majority of minutes for the Lakers before him.

Besides being good trading partners, the other reason that the Lakers made a play for Sessions is because he had a player option after this season.  The Cavaliers had to trade Sessions or risk losing him for nothing on July 1st.  Sessions had interest in playing for a team where he can start, so clearly Cleveland was not the right fit for him.  There are not many teams in the league who are not set at the point guard position.  The only teams besides the Los Angeles Lakers that could use an upgrade in Sessions are Miami, Charlotte, Dallas, Portland and possibly Utah and New Orleans.  If the desired return for Sessions was a first round pick, he would almost certainly have to go to a playoff team.  Chris Grant and the front office would be hard-pressed to find a team that is willing to trade a lottery pick and a shot at Anthony Davis for Ramon Sessions.  Essentially, the Cavs had very few trading partners available that would fit the needs of both teams and Ramon Sessions.  It is for this reason that the trade was a good one for both teams.

The final report on the trade is that the Cavs sent Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga to the Lakers for their 2012 first round pick, Luke Walton, Jason Kapono and the right to swap the Heat pick with the Lakers in 2013.  In addition, the 2012 draft pick is top-14 protected.  

The trade was not a home-run for the Cavs.  The team had to take on the contracts of Jason Kapono and Luke Walton in order to get a draft pick that will likely be later in the first round.  Luke Walton is averaging 1.3 PPG and 1.6 RPG in only seven minutes per game.  Jason Kapono is going to make his return to the Cavs after being drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in the supplemental draft in 2004.  Known for his three point shooting, he is having a poor year from beyond the arc and converting on only 29.6% of his attempts.  Luke Walton is under contract until the end of the 2012-2013 season and is slated to make 5.8 million dollars after this season.  Jason Kapono’s contract is expiring after this year and he is making the league-minimum.  

Luke Walton has been pretty terrible for the Lakers in the past few seasons and is not living up to his contract.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.  The Cavs are going to struggle staying above the salary cap floor and his contract is going to help in that regard.  Once again, Kapono and Walton are not going to have positive impacts for the Cavs, but it was the price that the team had to pay in exchange for having a second first round pick in the upcoming draft.

Overall, the Cavs did pretty well at the trade deadline.  These sort of deals always take time to assess.  Many Cavs fans were happy with the trade that brought Omri Casspi to Cleveland in exchange for JJ Hickson, but time is changing that narrative.  Ultimately, whether or not it is a good deal depends on what kind of player the Cavs draft with the draft pick which was included.  As far as the Lakers go, they desperately needed an upgrade in talent but I do have to question how well Sessions will fit in.  The Lakers are having growing pains as a result of moving away from the Triangle Offense which incorporates a lot of ball movement and players cutting.  Ramon Sessions tends to dominate the basketball and relies heavily on pick-and-rolls.  Mike Brown will have his hands full incorporating Ramon Sessions into a system where Kobe Bryant likes to shoot a lot.  He will also have to get better at getting the ball to rolling big men off of screens.  The trade for Sessions was a smart one for the Lakers, but I do have to question his fit in Hollywood.  Regardless, he is an improvement in talent and they managed to cut salary as well.  

The trade deadline was fairly successful for the Cavs.  In order to get something, teams almost always have to give something up.  They risked losing Sessions at the end of the season and there were not a lot of realistic trading partners.  If he were to be traded to another team where he will not start, they would risk losing him at the end of the season and would have given up assets in the process.  It would have been nice to see the Cavs move Antawn Jamison and even Anderson Varejao, but this move shows that the team is actually concerned with building towards the future as opposed to making a run this year.