DePaul Professional Athletes

The most well-traveled DePaul Blue Demon in the NBA just added another stamp to his passport.

Max Strus, the sharpshooting guard out of DePaul, has been traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a four-team deal that sent Denver's Peyton Watson to Cleveland. The move ends a three-year run in Cleveland for Strus — one that, by all accounts, left a lasting impression on the organization.

Cavaliers GM Koby Altman made that clear in a heartfelt farewell message following the trade, acknowledging that Strus meant more to the franchise than a line in a transaction wire. It's the kind of sendoff reserved for players who give everything in a role that doesn't always come with top billing — and Strus, the versatile wing who carved out his NBA career through relentless shooting and defensive effort, fits that mold precisely.

The trade itself reflects just how valued Strus is as a movable asset. Cleveland orchestrated a complex four-team arrangement to land Watson, a young defensive forward with upside, and Strus was the centerpiece heading west. For the Clippers, adding a proven three-and-D contributor fills a clear need on a roster still trying to find its post-Kawhi identity.

For Strus, Los Angeles represents a fresh chapter. The DePaul product — who went undrafted in 2019 and worked his way from the G League to a meaningful rotation piece — now joins a Clippers team in transition, where his shooting off the catch and defensive versatility could make him a key building block rather than just a complementary piece.

The broader context of the trade had been percolating for weeks. Reports and speculation around a Strus deal circulated throughout the offseason, with multiple proposed frameworks floating his name alongside discussions about James Harden's contract situation in Cleveland. When the deal finally crystallized, it came quickly — a reminder that the NBA offseason rarely stays quiet for long, even in August.

For DePaul fans, Strus continues to be the program's most prominent NBA representative, and his landing spot in Los Angeles only raises the profile. Blue Demons alumni can now catch him under the bright lights of Crypto.com Arena, where the Clippers will be looking to him to shoot them back into relevance.

DePaul in the NBA | Aug. 9–15, 2026

If your name is Max Strus this offseason, your phone — and Cleveland's front office — has been ringing nonstop.

The DePaul product and Cavaliers shooting guard has emerged as the centerpiece of multiple trade scenarios making the rounds this week, with Cleveland apparently willing to move the veteran wing in pursuit of a bigger, championship-tested piece. Three separate projections surfaced in the span of days, each casting Strus in the same role: the expendable asset that makes a blockbuster work.

The Kuminga Connection

The most straightforward scenario has Cleveland shipping Strus to acquire ex-Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga. Per The Sporting News, the Cavaliers have spent the summer positioning themselves to land an NBA champion, and Kuminga — who won a title with Golden State — fits the profile. In this projection, Strus is the headliner going the other direction, his $11M-range contract serving as the salary-matching engine the deal requires.

The Four-Team Monster

The most ambitious rumor involves a four-team blockbuster that would send Strus out of Cleveland in exchange for another ex-Warriors champion carrying a $46 million price tag. The Sporting News described Strus as having been "a tradable piece all summer," which is front-office speak for a player whose departure has already been internally accepted — it's just a matter of finding the right return. Four-team deals of this complexity rarely come together cleanly, but the fact that Cleveland appears committed to making one work says something about how much they value the pieces they're chasing relative to what they'd give up in Strus.

The Schroder Package

A third scenario pairs Strus with guard Dennis Schroder in a combined outgoing package, with Cleveland targeting a 3-and-D NBA champion valued at approximately $11 million. The pairing suggests Cleveland may need to bundle Strus with another movable contract to hit matching thresholds, reinforcing his role as a facilitator of deals rather than the focal point of them.

The Big Picture

None of these trades have been reported as agreed upon or imminent — they are projections and predictions, not confirmed transactions. But the sheer volume of scenarios centering on Strus is notable. It speaks to his league-wide utility: a reliable, shootable wing on a manageable deal is exactly the kind of piece rival front offices covet and Cleveland can leverage.

For DePaul fans, the storyline is bittersweet. Strus carved out a legitimate NBA career from mid-major roots, earned a ring with Miami, and landed a real contract in Cleveland. Now he's valuable enough to move mountains — just potentially not as a Cavalier much longer.

No other DePaul alumni — Javon Freeman-Liberty (Raptors), Javan Johnson (Warriors), David Jones (Spurs), or Paul Reed (Pistons) — generated notable news during the period.