Think about putting cheat with team on river (8)
I believe the answer is:
consider
'think about' is the definition.
(to consider something is to think about it)
'cheat with team on river' is the wordplay.
'cheat' becomes 'con' (conning is a kind of cheating).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'team' becomes 'side' (both can mean a sports team).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'con'+'side'+'r'='CONSIDER'
'putting' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for consider that I've seen before include "Attend to" , "Deem to be, regard" , "Think about, reflect upon" , "Think about - judge" , "Go over something in one's mind" .)