To some Cleveland Cavaliers fans, Emoni Bates has looked like a real option for the team, someone who could help them solve their depth issue in the forward position.
Bates hasn’t spent much time with the Cavaliers, but he has been playing really well for the G-League Cleveland Charge.
As pointed out by the G-League on X, Bates led everyone with 33 points in a game against the Raptors 305 on Thursday night.
His 33 points were made even more impressive by the fact that Bates also dropped six three-pointers.
Emoni Bates led all scorers with 33 PTS to put the @ChargeCLE on 🔝 over the Raptors 905. Bates had the hot hand dropping 6 triples 🔥. The Charge had four players scoring in double digits.
⚔️ Travers: 25 PTS | 18 REB | 10 AST
⚔️ Tomlin: 27 PTS | 68% FG pic.twitter.com/mLtsElVfX8— NBA G League (@nbagleague) February 14, 2025
Of course, a G-League game is different than an official NBA one but this was still a promising showing from Bates.
Does that mean he should be spending more time with the Cavaliers?
He has only participated in seven games with the Cavs this season, averaging 0.9 points and 0.6 assists during just 3.9 minutes per game.
The G-League is where Bates is really making the most noise, but it almost wasn’t possible this year.
After some great games last season, he suffered an injury leading up to this year and was forced to miss the start of games a few months ago.
The knee surgery he had seems to have done the trick and Bates is looking and moving better.
Bates remains on a two-way contract with the Cavaliers, which means he could be back with the Cavaliers at any point.
But fans shouldn’t expect to see him putting in a lot of minutes on the court, even if he does play with the Cavs.
At just 21 years old, Bates is still very young and may have a long career ahead of him.
He hasn’t been able to break into regular rotation with the Cavaliers, but he continues to thrive with their G-League team.
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