Charlotte Collected a Protected First for Aleksandar Pavlović
During the 2004 expansion draft, Charlotte selected young Serbian wing Aleksandar Pavlović from the Utah Jazz. The following day, June 23, the Bobcats traded him to Cleveland for a future first-round choice. The pick carried different protections depending on the year and ultimately conveyed in 2007 at No. 22. Cleveland wanted a prospective rotation wing for the young LeBron James era; Charlotte accepted the ability to draft a player several seasons later. The Bobcats’ own retrospective of the expansion draft confirms Pavlović was traded for the first-round choice eventually used on Jared Dudley, and the Cavaliers transaction ledger independently dates the agreement. This was not an immediate exchange of two drafted players who had already suited up for their new NBA clubs.
Pavlović Became a Cavaliers Finals-Season Role Player
Pavlović contributed to Cleveland for multiple seasons, including an important role during the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance in 2007. He offered perimeter defense and occasional shooting at a time when Cleveland was assembling lineups around James and its experienced guards. In 2006-07 his playing time expanded, and he became an option alongside Larry Hughes and Eric Snow. Those Cleveland games are an actual return that complicates the inherited low D+ Cavaliers grade, even if Pavlović never developed into a star. His later work with other teams must not be included in Cleveland’s immediate return. The Cavaliers got a legitimate young NBA wing rather than simply losing a first for a player who never reported, so the article distinguishes direct value from the pick that might have been.
Dudley Gave Charlotte a Different Sort of Development Asset
The 2007 pick eventually became No. 22, used on Boston College forward Jared Dudley. He appeared in 73 Bobcats games as a rookie in 2007-08 and began building the versatile career that eventually made him a valuable role player around the NBA. Charlotte traded him to Phoenix in December 2008, a separate exchange that formed another asset path. The Bobcats’ A- grade is rooted in having gained an authentic first-round pick through an expansion roster selection, as well as the time Dudley actually spent with the franchise. It should not count all of Dudley’s later Suns, Clippers or Lakers seasons as Charlotte playing time. The pick was not a fictitious perpetual condition: it converted to an identifiable 2007 first-round choice.
Final Verdict
Charlotte Win under inherited grades, A- for the Bobcats and D+ for Cleveland. Charlotte converted its expansion-draft selection of Aleksandar Pavlović into a 2007 No. 22 first-round pick used on Jared Dudley. Pavlović nevertheless played real wing minutes for Cleveland, including its 2007 Finals season.