The Brendan Haywood contract has been a source of hope for Cleveland Cavaliers fans since they acquired it. A big $10 million trade chip that could help the Cavs acquire talent that their bloated salary cap would not allow in any other way.
We have covered that the Cavs are trying to find a taker for that contract this off-season. The Spurs seemed to be a fit but they just dealt Tiago Splitter to the Hawks and don’t need to move money anymore to sign LaMarcus Aldridge. The Lakers could be an option but the Cavs have to be cautious about making space for them to possibly sign Kevin Love AND another big name player.
A few other teams may need to cut some salary and have a player or two that the Cavs would be interested in. The Kings for example could look to move Darren Collison and Jason Thompson. The Nuggets could be looking to move a myriad of players. Same goes for the Hornets and Pelicans.
Obviously nothing has happened yet during NBA Free Agency that has given Cavs fans a lot of hope. Much like NBA Draft night, fans had high expectations, based on rumors and reports, of the Cavs signing Kevin Love, LeBron James, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert AND dealing Haywood’s contract for a player or two.
(Editor’s Note: This article was written while Tristan and Love signed. Read accordingly.)
Update: Windy is saying that the Cavs have a deals in place:
Cavs have numerous options to move Brendan Haywood's $10.5M nonguaranteed contract now on the table, sources said. Dan Gilbert spending $
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 1, 2015
It will be tough for the Cavs to make a deal with Haywood’s deal as many teams only want to dump salary IF they think they can sign a certain player. That is what the Spurs just did, that is what the Lakers are hoping to do. Dumping salary, since the Cavs have very little they can send back in return, is not something many teams are in a rush to do.
They may, however, have more interest in doing such closer to the start of the season or at the NBA Trade Deadline. The Cavs, or whoever holds on to the Brendan Haywood contract, have until August 1st to waive him without paying him the over $10 million owed on his deal. So how can the Cavs take advantage of teams looking to dump money before the start of the season or more likely at the Trade Deadline?
Simple, trade him for nothing.
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The Cavs can simply trade Haywood’s contract to a team with the necessary cap space, we are looking at you Sixers, and in return they would get a same sized Traded Player Exception. This exception would simply extend the time frame of the Cavs using the $10 million contract of Haywood. They could trade for a player or two, that had contracts less than the TPE without having to send out any contracts back.
The Cavs would have to send something to that team, in this case we will assume the Sixers, to get them to want to do the deal but the extra 2nd they picked up from the Timberwolves, or one of the players they drafted this year, will be worth it.
The Sixers simply cut Haywood and it is like nothing happened while the Cavs get a full year to try to reap the benefits of the contract.
Are you okay with this “worst case scenario” with the Brendan Haywood contract?