NBA Draft 2023 Rumors: Cavs, Suns, Bucks Eyeing Trades into Late 1st, Early 2nd Round

One week away from the 2023 NBA draft, rumors are starting to pick up about teams trying to jockey for position in the back of the first round and early in the second round where playoff-ready clubs might be looking to make a splash.

Per The Athletic's Sam Vecenie, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks have all "explored potential opportunities to move up into the late 20s and 30s due to the depth of prospects on the wing and potential NBA-ready, older rotation players."

This is a common approach to the draft for teams trying to win now. The newly-crowned NBA champion Denver Nuggets didn't even have to make a trade to find a veteran college player who contributed to their roster in 2022-23.

Christian Braun was a three-year player at Kansas and got better each season. He was named to the All-Big 12 second-team as a junior in 2021-22 after averaging 14.1 points on 49.5 percent shooting and 6.5 rebound per game.

The Nuggets selected Braun with the 21st overall pick in the 2022 draft. He didn't play much as a rookie, but was able to average 4.7 points on 49.5 percent shooting in the 76 regular-season games he played.

Braun averaged 13.0 minutes per game in the playoffs and scored seven points between the third and fourth quarters in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to help the Nuggets keep the score close before pulling away at the end.

The Suns might be the most desperate team looking to trade for a pick. Their only selection in this year's draft is at No. 52 overall and they need to find players who can be plugged in immediately around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Milwaukee may have to spend a lot of money to re-sign Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, who has a $40.4 million player option for next season. If both players return on new deals, the front office's best path to adding talent around its core will likely be through the draft because it won't have the cap flexibility to do much else.

The Cavs need to find more shooting after their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the New York Knicks. They cashed in a lot of their future assets last summer to acquire Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz, though their 2023 first-round pick is owed to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the Caris LeVert deal from February 2022.

Given how much depth there appears to be at multiple positions in this year's class, it won't be a surprise if there is a lot of trade activity in the back of the first round and into the second round when the draft begins at 8 p.m. ET on June 22.