Return to the NBA! Cavaliers decision to detonate the league, Pacers abandon their son, may become a championship puzzle

As the curtain of the new season gradually opened, the NBA signing market is like a lake blowing by the spring breeze, with layers of ripples coming, and multiple signing news comes one after another. Among them, the Spurs have returned to center player Biyongbo; and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dominated the Eastern Conference regular season last season, have accelerated the pace of strengthening the lineup. According to Shams, a well-known ESPN reporter, once-championed center Thomas Bryant signed a one-year contract with the Cavaliers. As soon as this news came out, it caused quite a stir in the basketball world and attracted the attention of many fans and media. Back in the offseason, the top Greek basketball team Panasinaikos extended the olive branch to Thomas Bryant, intending to sign a contract with him with an annual salary of up to $3 million. At that time, the inside player who was only 28 years old and had just won the finals and had even made plans to leave the NBA. However, fate always seems to be teasing people. By chance, he accidentally returned to the US professional basketball team. However, for Panasinaikos, they did suffer some losses, but they are still acceptable. After all, from the beginning, their target of signing was Valanciunas, but the Nuggets were unwilling to let go.

As the second round pick in 2017, Tob was able to find new jobs after playing for multiple teams, which is enough to prove his uniqueness. In the 2024-2025 season, Bryant played 56 regular season games for the Pacers, with eight of them starting. He is fighting on the court on average for 15.1 minutes per game, and can efficiently contribute 6.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.6 blocks. His shooting percentage is only 51.5%, and his data performance is remarkable. However, on this higher stage of the finals, he was trapped in a sluggish quagmire. The average playing time dropped sharply to 5.3 minutes, and the score was only 1.7 points. It almost disappeared in the fierce confrontation and its sense of existence disappeared.

I thought he would become the Pacers' abandoned son, but what I never expected was that in the Eastern Conference Finals, head coach Carlisle successfully activated the water dispenser player in the face of the strong New York Knicks. Under the planning of the coaching staff, Bryant transformed himself into a transformation, as if he had been injected with powerful energy, and his performance was amazing. He quickly became an indispensable rotation force on the team's bench and helped the team successfully enter the finals. Although he lost the championship in the tiebreak battle and missed the game, his career trajectory has changed.

This time, Bryant resolutely made the choice to join the Cavaliers, which means he is about to enter the ninth season of his career. Although the contract he signed is not fully guaranteed, when we focus on the Cavaliers' unrivaled lineup, it is not difficult to find that his arrival is undoubtedly a win-win deal with great vision.

On the one hand, as a replacement for Nian, Bryant has great achievements in shooting skills. His two-point shooting percentage and effective shooting percentage are excellent, and he has certain outside three-point shooting ability. Although this shooting ability is not stable, it gives him a new positioning - a typical space-type inside player. On the offensive end, he is like an energy source, able to inject powerful firepower into the team's substitute lineup and help it get ready to go. However, no one is perfect, and his disadvantages on the defensive end are also more obvious. Its mobility has significant shortcomings and is not an excellent frame protector. When facing speed forward players, he often falls into a dilemma of being stretched and unable to do so.

Thankfully, there are many experts in the Cavaliers' lineup such as Mobley, Allen and Leville. Under their escort, Bryant was able to use his remaining energy more calmly. He is like a perfect puzzle, integrated into the team's grand blueprint for championships. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is an important puzzle on the team's road to championship.