Report: Cavs, Hood ‘explored several’ sign-and-trade deals

Could the Cleveland Cavaliers have been exploring a sign-and-trade that would have brought Rodney Hood to the Sacramento Kings?

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, prior to swingman Rodney Hood re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the two sides “explored several sign-and-trade options.” However, none materialized with Hood failing to receive a contract offer in the $10-12 million range.

It’s not surprising that the two sides looked for sign-and-trade options given that Hood wanted more money than they were willing to offer, leading to Hood signing his qualifying offer to remain with the team. Furthermore, they weren’t a great fit last season, with Hood playing more of an off-ball role than he had become accustomed to with the Utah Jazz.

Nonetheless, it’s worth the time to see what teams could have been options in a possible sign-and-trade. Especially as one of these teams could look to sign Hood when he’s an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

Per Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, there were six teams with the salary cap space to sign Hood at the start of the offseason: the Brooklyn Nets ($13,562,431), the Sacramento Kings ($17,344,447), the Atlanta Hawks ($17,284,738), the Chicago Bulls ($21,781,545), the Philadelphia 76ers ($25,195,233) and the Los Angeles Lakers ($45,292,885).

None of these teams, save for the 76ers, have a player in the $10-$12 million range, so most of all Hood’s contract would have to have been absorbed into their salary cap.

So which teams could the Cavs have been talking to? Which teams may have seriously considered the deal?

While it was unlikely the Nets would ever use the rest of their cap space to sign Hood given how his season ended, the Nets are a wing-heavy team with quite a few players who averaged scoring numbers similar to what Hood averaged (14.7 points per game) last season.

The Hawks had the cap space and the spot in the rotation for Hood to make a big impact for their team. However, if reports are true that Kent Bazemore is on the trade block, a player with similar numbers to Hood’s last season, then there are obvious questions about how much they would want Hood.

Putting Bazemore on the trade block, who is making $18 million this season, also shows a desire to lower their team payroll rather than add to it.

The Bulls had every chance to sign Hood but opted to sign Jabari Parker to a two-year, $40 million instead. Parker has shown more all-around potential than Hood but has had two major knee surgeries at 23-years-old. That said, choosing Parker was understandable, particularly because of their hole at small forward; Hood has been best as a shooting guard.

The 76ers re-signed sharpshooter J.J. Redick for close to $12 million, giving them nearly $13 million to work with after the signing. However, a team like the 76ers is one with championship hopes. Hood’s failure to excel under the playoff pressure last season doesn’t seem to make them a good fit, at least not this season.

The Lakers will pay LeBron James, the best player in the NBA for the last decade, for $35 million this season. Letting center Julius Randle sign with the New Orleans Pelicans allowed them to save $12 million by removing his cap hold.

They had nearly $22 million in cap space after those two moves but when they signed Rajon Rondo to a $9 million deal, the writing was on the wall for Hood.

The Kings are the team that likely considered signing Hood the most, given that they still have $11,024,575 remaining in cap space. They also have no clearly defined roles for their young wings, with Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin Jackson vying for starting roles.

However, like the Nets, signing Hood would cost them their remaining cap space in a season that they’re not expected to reach the playoffs with Hood or not.

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Over the summer, there were rumors that the Indiana Pacers, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Rockets were interested in Hood too.

Though they didn’t have the cap space, there were interesting players like Thaddeus Young, Nikola Mirotic and Eric Gordon that the Cavs could have tried to get in return for Hood.

Out of the aforementioned players, only Mirotic (27-years-old) fits the team’s youth movement.

He would even have had a role as the backup power forward, like Young would. However, the Cavs need more help on the wing than anywhere else and Mirotic is a frontcourt player. As is Young.

Because of Gordon’s importance to the Rockets, he was a particularly unlikely acquisition. He would have been a fair replacement for Hood though, averaging 18.0 points per game (on a true shooting percentage of 57.3) last season.

Considering the complications of creating a deal with any other team, the drawn-out process of Hood’s restricted free agency may have primarily been him negotiating with the Cavs and the Kings. Cleveland likely had conversations with a few other teams about Hood though.