MARCH 26: The trade is official, the Cavaliers announced in a press release.
MARCH 25: The Cavaliers are finalizing a trade that will send veteran center JaVale McGee to the Nuggets, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Cleveland will acquire big man Isaiah Hartenstein and a pair of second-round picks in the deal, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Mike Singer of The Denver Post first reported that the two teams were discussing Hartenstein.
According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), the picks headed to the Cavs are a top-46 protected 2023 second-rounder and an unprotected 2027 second-rounder.
The move represents a reunion for McGee, who was previously traded to the Nuggets at the 2012 trade deadline and spent the next three years with the franchise. The 33-year-old has played for Philadelphia, Dallas, Golden State, the Lakers, and Cleveland since then, averaging 8.0 PPG and 5.2 RPG in 33 games (15.2 MPG) this season for the Cavs.
In his return to Denver, McGee figures to slide into the backup center role behind Nikola Jokic. Hartenstein was penciled into that role at the start of the season, but had a somewhat underwhelming year, with 3.5 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 30 games (9.1 MPG). JaMychal Green, Zeke Nnaji, and Bol Bol have also seen some occasional minutes at the five, but McGee should be a more reliable veteran option for the Nuggets’ second unit.
As Singer observes (via Twitter), the Cavs were one of the teams with interest in Hartenstein before he signed with Denver last fall, so the 22-year-old should take on a bigger role in Cleveland. However, the second-rounders the Cavs are acquiring in the swap are probably a bigger factor in the team’s willingness to make the deal.
Although Hartenstein’s minimum-salary contract isn’t big enough to match McGee’s $4.2MM expiring deal, the Nuggets will be able to absorb that money using a trade exception created in last November’s Jerami Grant sign-and-trade and will still have about $5.33MM left on that exception, which expires in the offseason. The Cavs will create a $4.2MM traded player exception in the deal, while the Nuggets will generate a new $1.62MM TPE.
McGee will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Hartenstein has a minimum-salary player option for 2021/22.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The guaranteed player option given to Hartenstein by Denver, after being waived and unsigned last season, is still befuddling to me.
He had comparable offers in FA, so Denver needed to incentivize signing with them and getting fewer opportunities behind Jokic. An extra year at the minimum is easy for the team to move if needed and is nice security for the player.
2 second round picks means they had to out bid another team that offered 1 2nd round pick. Nuggets will be tough in the playoffs with this move they have a rebounder on the floor at all times.
I see the move from the Cavs point of view, but I was kind of hoping the Nets would get him. The Cavs taking a player back in the deal may make it more difficult for them to trade Drummond since all of their roster spots are full with guaranteed salary to my knowledge. Even with the cap room the Knicks have available, they don’t have a touchable single player that would make up the difference for Drummond’s contract. There’s no way in hell they’d deal Randle. I suppose for salary matching and roster spots a trade of Drummond, Dotson and Dellavedova for Ntilikina, Burks and Bullock may work.
If 10-day contracts can be traded, I suppose Dotson and Dellavedova could be replaced with Wade and Cook and Bullock can be replaced with Rivers.
2-2nds for Mcgee is a tall price. Helps with Green, Jokic, Milsap rotation. Pretty low-key move. C’s or Wolves must be swinging for the fence!
It’s not so tall a price. One of those picks may not even be in high school yet. The other will only convey if Nuggets make the playoffs after the play-in games in 2023 and have one of the top 14 regular season records.
Good trade for Nuggets. Nothing important given up for a helpful playoff piece
Agree with you. A solid experienced big athletic back up center. Denver has a very veteran talented team. Have to take their shot at going deep into the playoffs. Giving up 2nd round picks isn’t a big deal.
There are some really good players who have been second round picks. Since this thread is about the Nuggets, look at these second-round picks on the roster: Jokic (he’s kinda good), Millsap, Barton, Morris.
Going way back, Alex English was a second-round pick (of the Bucks).
You are right. Good point.
I have been told by robohouston that Hartenstein was a good player. Of course he was with Houston at the time… no word since.
Being a center, they can still trade Drummond.
Denver arguably needed a rim protecting backup 5, but Hartenstein has a positive net rating and positive plus/minus numbers with him in the floor. I remember a while back I was going to say Javale made some sense for them, but wasnt sure b/c of that with Hartenstein.
Denver’s starting team needs to work out their team defense…they could zone, look for charges at the restricted circle…and prevent weak side offensive rebounds…the trio of Gordon, Jokic, MPjr should be one of the top rebounding front courts in the league. Javale provides rim protection on the second unit. If Gordon can provide adequate one on one defense against ballhandling forwards, the Nuggets have everything a championship caliber team needs. I’d start Jokic/MPjr/Gordon/Dozier/Murray bringing a high quality backup point guard (Monte), center (Javale), scorer (Barton), all around role players (Green, Millsap), change of pace guard (Facu), talented energetic rookie (Zeke) off the bench.
Hartenstein is a 22 yr old C. Who was playing 9 mins, shooting 60% FT. He’s still got a long way to go. Just to be a good backup C. McGee just won a ring and was a big part of that. That’s why he’s here. He is a big upgrade for a team going for a ring now. With Gordon and McGee Nuggets addressed two of their biggest holes. Gordon can help guard the big wings and can put pressure on them on O. They lose nothing when Jocik sits now. McGee provides strong D n rim protection. They can even go twin towers. MecGee is an experienced C who’s Been in big gms. Denver is a deeper team and better team now. Definitely a contender for a Title not just the West.
I get your point but saying “they lose nothing when Jokic sits now” might bit a wee bit of an overstatement, Al.