Report: Cavaliers Asked for Norman Powell in Andre Drummond Trade Talks

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly asked for Toronto Raptors guard Norman Powell in return for centre Andre Drummond last month

All Raptors Staff | Mar 18, 2021

Report: Cavaliers Asked for Norman Powell in Andre Drummond Trade Talks /

If you don't ask, you don't get.... or something like that.

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly asked the Toronto Raptors for Norman Powell in trade talks for Cavaliers centre Andre Drummond, Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Wednesday night.

Think it's rather evident why the Raptors were thoroughly unwilling to surrender Norman Powell in a trade for Andre Drummond.

Toronto registered trade interest in Drummond long ago, but Cleveland wanted Powell, who scored 43 tonight for Toronto in a narrow defeat at Detroit https://t.co/TyjyO7j045
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 18, 2021

Stein's report came shortly after the Powell wrapped up a career night, scoring 43 points on 14-for-18 shooting with eight 3-pointers against the Detroit Pistons.

The Raptors had reportedly been interested in acquiring Drummond, though a deal was always hard to envision based on the size of Drummond's contract. It would likely would have required Toronto to send Powell or Kyle Lowry back in a deal and ultimately that would have been a net loss for the Raptors.

Powell's name has, however, popped up in trade rumours recently with multiple teams reportedly interested in acquiring him. He's averaging a team-high 24.3 points per game since joining Toronto's starting unit on January 22, while shooting 53.4% from the field and 46.3% from 3-point range. It's therefore understandable that teams are trying to pry him loose from the Raptors.

"I just try to tell them that there's nothing to worry about," Powell said Wednesday night. "You can control what you can control, and don't worry about anything that's outside of that. We've got to focus on who's in the locker room and what we have to do to compete and win. There's going to be a lot of rumours and so on and so forth, but don't focus on it."

Even at 17-23, the Raptors have shown no indication of being sellers at the March 25 NBA trade deadline, but if the organization does decide to go that way, they'll be selling sky high on the 27-year-old Powell.

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