Travers has the same question marks on the offensive end going into his third Las Vegas Summer League.
Luke Travers made it clear what his goal is for this upcoming season. He wants to be on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It’s always every year, ASAP,” Travers said after practice earlier this week. “You’re trying to get there as soon as possible. You don’t want to wait around and stuff.”
The Cavs desperately need bigger wings that can comfortably shift between playing the three and four. Travers fits that mold at 6’7” where he spent the last season playing power forward for the NBL’s Melbourne United after mostly serving as small forward the previous three seasons with the Perth Wildcats.
Travers held his own at power forward by averaging 12 points and grabbing 7.6 rebounds per game while being an excellent team defender. He continued to display a high basketball IQ defensively playing more as a roamer in a league that doesn’t have a defensive three-seconds violation. This allowed him to jump passing lanes and provide good secondary rim protection, leading him to average one steal and one block.
The Cavaliers are lacking rotation players who can provide secondary rebounding. This is especially true in lineups without Jarrett Allen. Travers could fill that need while being a good positional defender who can scale up or down. Cleveland’s need for this type of versatility became even more apparent last postseason as the Cavs had no options to defend against the Boston Celtics’ wings.
The holdup for Travers comes on the offensive side of the floor. The Cavs have but a few players who can pass, dribble, and shoot. Especially, outside of their backcourt. It’s fair to question if Travers can do any of those three things at an NBA level, let alone all three.
Travers was surrounded by more ball-dominant players in Melbourne. He showed that he can play without the ball by scoring as a cutter and on the break, but not so much as a shooter or play initiator. It’s difficult to carve out a role in the NBA if your offensive game is that limited.
Travers shot just 32.7% from beyond the arc on just 2.1 attempts per game last season. This is in line with his NBL career average of 32.9%. His path to being an NBA rotation player is thin unless that changes. It’s why improving his outside shot is a goal for him.
“Maturing as a person, [taking care] of my body, and the shooting obviously, which has come a long way,” Travers said when asked about the next step in his development. “It’s all about reps ... and putting in the work.”
One of the benefits of a draft and stash prospect like Travers is that you don’t need to give up a roster spot while they hopefully develop into an NBA player. The Cavs drafted Travers in the second round in 2022 because of his size and positional versatility. The shot and offensive side of the floor have always been the question mark. The hope was that he could put it all together and become a versatile role player overseas. That’s still an open question two years later, as he nears his 23rd birthday.
The Cavs have the option to invite Travers to training camp and bring him over on a two-way deal. They currently have a slot open for next season as they didn’t extend a qualifying offer for Isaiah Mobley and two-way contracts aren’t guaranteed until midway through the season. Grabbing one of those three slots would be the most likely way he would make it to Cleveland.
This Las Vegas Summer League won’t make or break Travers’s chances of playing in the NBA. Five games with guys who have only practiced together for a week can only provide so much intel. But, it’s time for him to start showing signs that his game will translate to the NBA. Summer League allows Travers an opportunity to display the versatility he theoretically could provide to a team sorely needing it.
“The goal for me is to be a good role player in the NBA,” Travers said. “I’m just trying to show that I can do that. Whether it’s Summer League, whether it’s in the NBA, it kind of doesn’t matter. I’m gonna go out there and do the little things, rebound, push the pace, make the extra pass, all that kind of thing.”
