The Cleveland Cavaliers have made the three-team trade that broke late last night official. The Cavs acquired Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis from the Sacremento Kings along with Emanuel Miller from the Chicago Bulls. In return, the Cavs shipped De’Andre Hunter to the Kings and a second-round pick to the Bulls. To make room for Ellis, the Cavs waived former second-round pick Luke Travers.

The team announced the news on Sunday afternoon, along with a statement from Koby Altman, the Cavs’ president of basketball operations.

The statement from Altman reads:

“After careful evaluation and a clearer view of the Eastern Conference landscape, we believe adding Dennis and Keon strengthens our depth, expands our flexibility, and positions us to keep building a Championship caliber team now and into the future. In a season defined by its parity, this move better aligns us for a deeper postseason run. I’m thankful as well to De’Andre, who made an immediate impact upon his arrival to Cleveland and represented the Cavaliers with class. We appreciate everything he did for us both on and off the court, and we wish him the best in Sacramento. We drafted Luke in 2022 and have seen his development improve each year and thank him for his contributions to the franchise.”

The most interesting part of this statement to me is that Altman mentioned that the trade “expands our flexibility.” The move saves the Cavs approximately $50 million in luxury cap payments this season. That is something that would undoubtedly interest the ownership group. However, it also got the Cavs closer to getting under the second-apron threshold. Cutting the money that they did makes it more viable for them to go big-game hunting if they wanted to.

We’ll see what other moves, if any, the Cavs make before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.