Cavs Rumor: Brendan Haywood Trade THIS Year?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have remade their roster in the past few weeks but the overhaul started around draft time. One big, but seemingly insignificant, trade involved acquiring Brendan Haywood from the Charlotte Hornets. The Cavs traded Scotty Hopson for Haywood in a move that gave the Cavs a backup big man that had struggled to even make it on the floor in recent years.
With Haywood there was a chance that the Cavs had gotten a rotational big man for little to nothing in Hopson. Yet, even if Haywood couldn’t play, we soon found out that he would have big value in the summer of 2015. His contract is non-guaranteed for next year at a little over $10 million. The Cavs could trade his contract in exchange for a big salaried player or multiple players whose contract valued around that amount, players the Cavs would not be able to afford otherwise. The team acquiring him could then just cut him and save a ton of cap space, and possibly luxury tax space.
We dreamed about possible trade candidates for the Cavs with Haywood’s contract (New Window) next off-season. The Cavs could pull in Roy Hibbert, Larry Sanders, Lance Stephenson or maybe even Marc Gasol in a sign and trade.
According to Jason Lloyd the Cavaliers are now willing to make a trade with Haywood’s contract, even though there return would be far less than it could be next season. This is the Cavs rumor from Lloyd:
"14. There have been whispers throughout the season the Cavs may trade Brendan Haywood’s unique contract before this summer, when it reaches its maximum value. Those whispers are growing louder. In fact, if the Cavs are to upgrade their backup point guard position through trade, they will inevitably have to include Haywood just to make the money match. And from all indications, they’ll have no problem moving Haywood’s contract if the right point guard becomes available. But they won’t know that until closer to the Feb. 19 trade deadline.15. The Cavs have been privately telling people for months that when they originally acquired Haywood’s contract, worth $10.5 million non-guaranteed next season, they didn’t have any max players on the roster. Now they have three.16. Assuming Kevin Love is still here, the Cavs will commit at least $58 million next season in salary just to Love, LeBron and Kyrie Irving. Add in Anderson Varejao’s $10 million for next season, new deals for Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert (each of whom will be coming off their rookie deals and seeking at least $10 million) and the Cavs’ payroll next season will explode through the cap (projected now around $66 million) and tax apron. That means Haywood’s contract cannot be used in sign-and-trade deals, which eliminates the Cavs from pursuing any free agents with his contract.17. Other teams are now highly aware of Haywood’s contract. Since the Cavs are fully committed to win-now mode, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them deal Haywood within the next four weeks for immediate help this season."
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This season Haywood has very little value in the trade market. He currently makes a little over $2 million and can be traded, on his own for a contract of a little less than $3 million. Not a ton of players that could make a big impact on the Cavs, and that another team is willing to part with, making that kind of money. The Cavs could add James Jones and Matthew Dellavedova to the trade and acquire a player, or players, worth about $5 million.
The value for a team trading for Haywood this year is two fold. First they could get out of a multi-year contract that they don’t want, a small benefit as that contract is likely small. Second, and the same reason the Cavs liked Haywood, is the value after the season. The team acquiring him could swing him to another team to acquire a big ticket player.
So while we all had our hopes up, Haywood’s creative contract will likely not be used to bring in a big name, big contract player. In fact Lloyd is reporting they wouldn’t be able to use it in a sign and trade at all based on the tax apron. Instead the Cavs could use him now to either bring in another big or a point guard, trading Haywood to a team that would see a use for the big man’s contract next season to acquire their own big name. The Cavs could then use their open roster spot to fill another need, including possibly Ray Allen, who reportedly wants minutes promised late in games.
What do you think about this new Cavs rumor?