Cleveland Cavaliers: Taking In The Haywood Trade

The Cleveland Cavaliers made another move on Sunday. Besides the mad scramble to try and reacquire all of their players that hit the free agent market after their NBA Finals run, the Cavs had some other, smaller things to worry about. One of those things was the Brendan Haywood contract and what it could be used for.

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Cleveland finally found a suitor in the Portland Trail Blazers, who had enough cap space to absorb not only the contract of Haywood, but also that of Mike Miller, who was included in the deal.

Brief pause: Miller is one of my favorite players, so let us have a moment of silence for his being traded from the Cavs…okay, I’m good.

Apparently, Miller had little issue with being the fall guy in the deal. He wants a larger role somewhere else, where he can get more time on the floor.

Miami Heat fans will be cringing at this whole thing, since LeBron James has no problem with Miller being let go this time around, as he did when his sharpshooter pal was released back when they were Miami teammates. Of course, this situation is a little different.

And 4 those asking if LeBron will b good w/ this, he values Miller as friend. Miller wanted to play somewhere. Different than MIA departure.
— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) July 27, 2015

The Cavs get two important trade exceptions out of this deal that they’ll have one year to use: Haywood’s $10.5 million and Miller’s $2.85 million. The money could be used to grab another key player before the deadline, and that salary wouldn’t impact the luxury tax payments (although it does count against the cap) that they are already smothered by.

With this deal in mind, Cleveland is still working on reaching an agreement with Tristan Thompson, who is looking for more than the initial offer ($13 million a year) given to him before this past season.

He’s the final piece of the puzzle to reunite the team from last year (who even knows about J.R. Smith anymore?) and the Cavs are hard at it, despite their payroll already being over $100 million and their luxury tax bill set to be around $40 million.

That’s a lot of dough.

Cleveland also gave up two picks in the trade. The first will be the higher of the second-round picks owed to the Cavs by the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves in 2019. The second is Cleveland’s own 2020 second-round pick.

These are both shrug worthy. Cleveland is a team that’s ready to win now. Sacrifices must be made. In the long run, I don’t think anyone’s going to really miss two second-round picks when their team has a great chance of returning to the Finals for years to come.

As for Haywood and Miller?

Haywood’s contract will probably be waived by Portland, while Miller is likely to negotiate a buyout so that he can become a free agent and seek out a team that will give him the role he desires. There are already rumblings that he could be a good fit to return to Memphis or Miami.

Miller also got a $400,000 trade kicker payout as part of the move. He’s going to be just fine.

And so are the Cavs. Another good move in a solid offseason.

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