Pros and cons of a Cavs trade for Clippers’ Luke Kennard

What a Luke Kennard trade would look like

Luke Kennard signed a four-year, $64 million extension that kicked in this season. It goes up in each successive season and involves both likely and unlikely incentives. The Cavs have a few different ways of matching his salary. The odds of including Collin Sexton are quite low unless some significant value is coming back to the Cavs, but the expiring deal of Ricky Rubio would be a great starting point.

This structure for a deal is very close to salary neutral, which is the bare minimum starting point for a Clippers team deep into the luxury tax. The Cavs bring in Kennard and take on the salary of Justice Winslow, another former Duke player who has yet again failed to resurrect his career. In return they send back Rubio and this year’s lucrative Houston second-round pick.

Even if Kennard is viewed as a positive asset on his current contract, Winslow is owed money for next season and doesn’t deserve more than the minimum. Combined, losing the two will wipe at least $18.5 million from next year’s books. Executing a 2-for-1 deal also allows the Clippers to convert Amir Coffey’s two-way contract into a guaranteed deal.

There are other ways to construct this deal, and perhaps the Cavs wish to route another second with Winslow to a third team so they don’t have to cut Kevin Pangos or Ed Davis to take on Winslow. The key takeaway is that the value of Kennard on his current contract is not such that they need to send a significant asset to the Clippers.