In his first interview since he underwent surgery for the blood clot in his lung, Anderson Varejao spoke to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports about how lucky he feels to have survived the ordeal. While most of the conversation focused on Varejao's health, the subject of trade rumors surfaced as well, with Varejao telling Spears that he hopes to remain in Cleveland for the rest of his contract.
"If they trade me, they trade me," Varejao said. "I'm happy here. I don't want to be traded."
Varejao was a frequently-discussed trade candidate before he was sidelined by a quadriceps injury and the blood-clot surgery, but as he tells Spears, he hasn't heard his name mentioned in trade talks since going under the knife. With another two years on his contract, which includes a partially-guaranteed 2014/15, the 30-year-old could re-emerge as a trade candidate down the road, but for this month at least, he appears unlikely to be moved.
Even though Varejao probably isn't going anywhere, the Cavs are still expected to be active in trade discussions over the next 10 days, as the team is armed with about $4MM in cap space, along with a handful of expiring contracts.