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Celtics Waive David Lee, Mavs Poised To Sign

February 20th, 2016 at 10:17am CST by Eddie Scarito

SATURDAY, 10:17am: The Mavs are expected to sign Lee via the room exception once he clears waivers, Charania tweets.

4:20pm: The two sides agreed to a buyout and Lee is expected to sign with a new team once he clears waivers, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe tweets.

FRIDAY, 4:18pm: The Celtics have officially waived power forward David Lee, the team announced. The veteran was reportedly set to work out a buyout arrangement with the team, which is presumably the case, though no mention of an agreement was made, nor how much salary Lee gave up to facilitate his release. The Mavericks are the frontrunners to sign Lee once he clears waivers, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports tweets. Lee clearing waivers is a virtual certainty since no team currently has the free cap space to absorb his $15.5MM salary. Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com reported buyout talks between the two parties.

Boston attempted to find a taker for Lee prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, but the power forward reportedly had “no value” around the league, even though his expiring deal presented an opportunity for cap relief this summer to any team acquiring him. “Everything doesn’t always work out the way you want it to,” Lee said. “I’m just disappointed from the fact that I wanted to come here and make a major impact. And that didn’t happen for one reason or another. The last two places I had been before I may have been able to make that impact. It is what it is.”

Lee had also relayed that he had no animosity toward the Celtics over his lack of playing time. “I’ve kind of seen the writing on the wall with what’s going on the last month,” Lee continued. “But once again, this is a business. We all know that. I want to be in a place where I’m successful and where I’m wanted. The Celtics are a great group of people here. I have absolutely zero negative things to say about my coaching staff and teammates, who, obviously as you know, I get along well with. So we’ll just see how things develop over the next 24 or 48 hours here, but it’s looking like something’s most likely going to happen [with the buyout].”

Lee, who has not played since January 10th, has appeared in 30 games for Boston this season and is averaging 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 15.7 minutes of action per contest.

Nuggets Waive J.J. Hickson, Steve Novak

February 19th, 2016 at 5:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

5:42pm: Both players have officially been waived, the team announced via press release.

4:39pm: The Nuggets have waived Steve Novak and J.J. Hickson, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter links). A formal announcement from the team has yet to take place. Novak is earning $3,750,001 for 2015/16 and Hickson is scheduled to make $5,613,500, amounts that the Nuggets will be on the hook for less any salary the players may have given up in buyout arrangements. Both players’ deals expire at the end of this season, so they won’t have any impact on next season’s cap number for Denver. These moves leave the Nuggets with a roster count of 13 players, two under the regular season maximum.

The 32-year-old Novak appeared in only seven games for the Thunder this season before the Thursday trade that shipped him to the Nuggets. His career numbers through 10 NBA seasons are 4.7 points and 1.3 rebounds to accompany a slash line of .438/.432/.876. He’s reportedly a candidate to join the Cavaliers assuming he clears waivers, according to a report by Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group.

Denver was reportedly shopping Hickson leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline but found no takers. Hickson and the Nuggets had subsequently agreed to work out a buyout arrangement prior to the March 1st cutoff date for players to be postseason-eligible for their new teams, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com relayed. Hickson has appeared in just three games since December 8th. He averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game across 17 appearances this season prior to that date.

Pelicans Waive Jarnell Stokes

February 19th, 2016 at 10:14am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have waived the freshly acquired Jarnell Stokes to make room on the roster for their new contract with Bryce Dejean-Jones, the team announced via press release. Stokes had just come via trade from the Heat on Thursday, though Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate reported then that the Pelicans were thinking about releasing him. New Orleans also received cash in the deal for Stokes, which totals a little more than $700K, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and Kushner indicates that will go toward funding the partial guarantee for next season in the Dejean-Jones deal (Twitter link).

The Pelicans are also going to pay the remainder of Stokes’ guaranteed salary of $845,059 for this season if he clears waivers, which would come to about $273K, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). His contract carries a non-guaranteed minimum salary of $980,431 for next season.

Stokes, 22, is only about a year and a half removed from having become the 35th pick in the 2014 draft. However, he’s made it into only 26 NBA games, fewer than the 39 D-League contests he’s played while on assignment from the Grizzlies and Heat. The power forward is averaging 20.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game across 16 D-League appearances this season.

New Orleans still has 15 players on its roster in the wake of the Stokes release and the Dejean-Jones signing. All 15 are signed through at least the end of the season.

Pelicans Sign Dejean-Jones To Three-Year Deal

February 19th, 2016 at 10:06am CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 10:06am: The signing is official, the team announced via press release. The move, coupled with the waiver of Jarnell Stokes, gives New Orleans 15 players.

THURSDAY, 8:09pm: The Pelicans are finalizing a multiyear arrangement with free agent shooting guard Bryce Dejean-Jones, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). It will be a three-year deal that includes a partial guarantee for next season, Charania notes. This implies that Dejean-Jones’ salary for 2017/18 will be non-guaranteed. Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate was the first to relay that New Orleans was in line to ink Dejean-Jones.

The second 10-day deal that Dejean-Jones signed with the Pelicans expired last week, leaving New Orleans no other option but to sign him for the remainder of the season if it wished to retain him, given that teams are only permitted to sign players to two 10-day contracts per season. The Lakers, Grizzlies, Jazz, Spurs and Suns also reportedly checked in on Dejean-Jones, though it is unclear if any of those teams made him a formal contract offer.

Dejean-Jones is averaging 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game this season, having made 10 of his 26 3-point attempts. New Orleans had originally signed him in August to a deal for training camp that included a $50K partial guarantee for this season, but Dejean-Jones didn’t make the opening night roster. He appeared in nine games for Utah’s D-League affiliate before the Pelicans signed him in January to the first of his 10-day pacts.

New Orleans is using its mid-level exception to accommodate the deal, since the team is over the cap and thus otherwise limited to handing out contracts of no more than two years in length. It’ll be the fourth contract, and the second for Dejean-Jones, that the Pelicans will have crammed into their mid-level. The others are Dante Cunningham‘s three-year, $8.395MM deal, Alonzo Gee‘s two-year, $2.699MM pact, and Dejean-Jones’ preseason contract.

Thunder, Nuggets Swap Augustin, Novak, Foye

February 18th, 2016 at 11:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

November 6, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Randy Foye (4) dribbles the basketball during the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets 119-104. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports Images

8:52pm: The Thunder have acquired Randy Foye from the Nuggets, sending D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak, two second-round picks and cash to Denver, the teams announced, confirming the original report from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The second-rounders the Nuggets get are Oklahoma City’s 2016 second-rounder and Charlotte’s bottom-five protected 2016 selection, according to RealGM. Oklahoma City confirms the receipt of a trade exception, which will be worth $3,750,001, the equivalent of Novak’s salary.

It appears to be quite a haul for Foye, who is making $3.135MM on an expiring contract. Foye was said to be available as of mid-December, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then, and that made sense considering his role had increasingly shrunk with Denver. Foye is averaging career lows in points and minutes per game while shooting a career worst 29.6% from 3-point range, well beneath his career mark of 37.0%. The move to add Foye brings a veteran to the Thunder’s bench, at the very least.

Novak, despite not being used much, proved to be a decent trade chip. The 10th-year veteran is on an expiring contract, and he and the Nuggets will reportedly discuss a buyout. Denver tried to arrange another deal to flip him before the deadline, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter).

Augustin, who’s making $3MM in the final season of his contract, will likely serve as a backup to Emmanuel Mudiay for the Nuggets, with Jameer Nelson battling a potentially season-ending wrist injury. Through 34 appearances with the Thunder this season, Augustin has averaged 4.2 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 15 minutes per game.

The deal saves Oklahoma City an estimated $9.8MM in combined luxury taxes and salary, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Denver used the $5,224,719 disabled player exception it received for Wilson Chandler to accommodate the uneven exchange of salaries.

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

Grizzlies, Clippers Swap Stephenson, Jeff Green

February 18th, 2016 at 11:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA TODAY Sports Images

8:48pm: The Clippers traded Lance Stephenson and their lottery-protected 2019 first-round pick to the Grizzlies for Jeff Green, the teams announced. The pick is also lottery-protected for 2020 if it doesn’t convey in 2019, and if it doesn’t change hands in 2020, it would become a 2022 second-rounder, as the Clippers confirmed on their website.

Stephenson, 25, has largely disappointed this season and is averaging only 4.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 rebounds per game, the second straight season of declines for a once-promising up-and-comer. Memphis is his third team since he left the Pacers to sign with the Hornets in the summer of 2014, though Grizzlies players reportedly told management they want him to stay.

The Clippers appeared to quickly turn away from Stephenson after acquiring him from Charlotte this past summer, though coach/executive Doc Rivers vehemently denied a report that the team gauged interest in him as early as November. Stephenson was reportedly part of a proposal involving Channing Frye that the Clippers ultimately backed away from. The mercurial guard is making $9MM this year with a team option for $9.405MM next season.

In acquiring Green, who is on an expiring contract, the Clippers have a decent placeholder until Blake Griffin returns from his broken hand. Green has a $9.45MM salary for this season, so Memphis gets to create a tiny $450K trade exception for the difference between his salary and Stephenson’s. Conversely, the Clippers add an extra $787,500 to their projected tax bill.

Green was averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds, and that scoring average is the second-lowest of his career. The former fifth overall pick didn’t become the solution on the wing that the Grizzlies surely hoped he’d be when they traded with Boston to acquire him last year. The latest deal involving Green reunites him with Rivers, his former Celtics coach.

This would seem like a balanced exchange if not for the pick headed to the Grizzlies. However, the Clippers are obliged to send another lottery protected first-round pick to the Raptors because of a previous trade, and the earliest the Grizzlies can see the pick the Clippers owe them is two years after the Clips convey the pick they owe the Raptors, as Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal explains. Toronto could get its Clippers pick as late as 2019, a scenario that would mean the Grizzlies only get a second-rounder.

Will Joseph contributed to this post. Dan Woike of The Orange County Register broke the news that Stephenson had been traded to the Grizzlies, while Zach Lowe of ESPN.com had Green going to the Clippers. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported the involvement of the first-round pick, while USA Today’s Sam Amick reported it was lottery protected (Twitter link) and TNT’s David Aldridge pegged it as a 2019 first-rounder (Twitter link).

Pistons Acquire Donatas Motiejunas

February 18th, 2016 at 11:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

Troy Taormina / USA TODAY Sports Images

8:43pm: The Pistons acquired Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Rockets as part of a three-team trade involving the Sixers, the teams all announced. The Rockets received Detroit’s top-eight protected 2016 first-round pick from the Pistons and the rights to draft-and-stash player Chukwudiebere “Chu” Maduabum from the Sixers. Philadelphia gets Joel Anthony from Detroit and Denver’s 2017 second-round pick from Houston. The Sixers are likely to waive Anthony, a league source told John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link).

Motiejunas projects to be backup for Tobias Harris, whom the Pistons also recently acquired via trade, while Thornton adds depth on the wing. The Pistons paid a steep price in adding pieces to their rotation, particularly given the lingering back issues that have kept Motiejunas from appearing in a game since the calendar flipped to 2016. Still, Pistons executive/coach Stan Van Gundy has a track record of paying heavily for players he likes, as Marc Stein of ESPN tweets. Van Gundy and company will get to match offers in restricted free agency for Motiejunas this summer, while Thornton is heading to unrestricted free agency at the completion of his one-year deal.

“We’re happy to welcome Donatas and Marcus to the Pistons family,” Pistons GM Jeff Bower said. “We like Donatas’ size, his skill level and his ability to play two frontcourt positions. Marcus adds scoring punch to our bench with his ability to create his own shot and make plays. We thank Joel Anthony for his professionalism throughout his time here and we wish him the best going forward.”

It’s no surprise to see Motiejunas depart from Houston, as it was a lock that either he or Terrence Jones would leave the Rockets as restricted free agents this summer, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported earlier this week. Stein reported earlier in the day that the Pistons had offered Anthony to the Rockets in exchange for Motiejunas, but instead the Rockets end up with a lightly protected first-rounder. The protection covers the top 10 in 2017 and 2018 if it doesn’t convey with top-eight protection this year, an odd wrinkle. The deal also allows the Rockets to create a trade exception worth $2,288,205, Motiejunas’ salary for this season, and another worth $947,276 as a vestige of Thornton. Maduabum, the other asset Houston gained in the deal, was the 56th overall pick in 2011 and plays for Pyrinto Tampere in Finland, well off pro basketball’s beaten path.

Philadelphia’s end of the move has the hallmarks of GM Sam Hinkie rather than chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo. The Sixers score a second-rounder and use their cap space to absorb a veteran player it seems they’d prefer not to keep. They waived JaKarr Sampson to accommodate the move, since they couldn’t trade for Anthony, even if they intended to release him, without first opening a roster spot. Anthony was fresh off re-signing with the Pistons in July on a two-year deal worth $5MM, but only the first season’s $2.5MM salary was guaranteed.

Will Joseph contributed to this post. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports first reported Motiejunas and Thornton were headed to Detroit and that the Pistons were giving up Anthony and the protected 2016 first-rounder (Twitter links). Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com revealed the protection involved with the pick (on Twitter). Wojnarowski later relayed the involvement of the Sixers (Twitter link), while Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported the second-round pick going to Philly (Twitter link). Gonzalez had news of the rights to Maduabum heading to Houston (Twitter links). RealGM provided additional draft pick detail.

Wizards Acquire Markieff Morris

February 18th, 2016 at 11:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports Images

7:20pm: The Suns have traded Markieff Morris to the Wizards for Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and Washington’s top-nine protected 2016 first-round pick, the teams announced. Phoenix is reportedly set to waive Blair. It’s a swap that ends a months-long saga involving Morris, who demanded a trade over the summer and recanted that stance, at least publicly, before the season, saying as late as Wednesday night that he wanted to stay in Phoenix.

Washington wasn’t prominent among the several teams linked to Morris since the summer, a group that included the Pelicans, Rockets, Pistons and Raptors. Instead, the Wizards were among the teams linked to Ryan Anderson and other, mostly reserve big man options, before coming away with one of the season’s most talked-about trade candidates.

“Markieff is a versatile, young power forward who brings athleticism and physicality along with a good shooting touch,” Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld said in the team’s statement. “He will be a very good addition to our team as we make our playoff push and gives us a proven starter at that position for the next several years.”

Morris, who’s facing felony aggravated assault charges for his role in a January incident, is under contract for three more seasons after this one at an average of $8MM a year. Humphries is making $4.4MM this season with a non-guaranteed $4.63MM salary for next year. Blair has $2MM coming his way this season, but next year’s $2MM salary is non-guaranteed, just as with Humphries. So, this move compromises Washington’s cap flexibility for this summer, when D.C. native Kevin Durant will be a free agent. The Wizards nonetheless still project to have enough room to offer the max to Durant, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).

The $7.4MM on the books for Morris next season brings Washington’s guaranteed salary commitments to about $45MM, and that, plus a roughly $14MM cap hold for Bradley Beal and at least about $3.3MM in other cap holds, leaves room for Durant’s projected $24.9MM max beneath the projected $89MM cap. A higher cap of $95MM, which some forecast, would lift Durant’s projected max somewhat higher too, but not by as much, giving the Wizards even more breathing room.

The Wizards will hope for a return to form for Morris, the 13th overall pick from the 2011 draft whose numbers are off sharply this season. His 3-point shooting is a career-worst 28.9%. Humphries added a 3-point shot to his game this year and made 34.3%, but injuries have limited him to only 28 games this season, and his appearance against the Knicks last week was his first since January 3rd. Blair was out of the rotation for most of his year and a half with Washington, averaging only 6.9 minutes per game combined between this season and last.

Phoenix moves on from a tumultuous relationship that seemed to come to a head in the wake of the offseason trade that sent his brother to the Pistons. I chronicled the back-and-forth between Morris and the Suns when I examined his trade candidacy last month.

Today’s swap adds $1.56MM to Washington’s payroll, bringing the Wizards to only about $1MM shy of the tax line. It also allows the Suns to create a trade exception for that $1.56MM amount.

Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports first reported the deal. TNT’s David Aldridge relayed that a first-round pick would go to Phoenix (Twitter link) and Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic had news of the details of the pick (on Twitter). Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported that Humphries and Blair were Suns-bound, while Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post added that one of them would be waived (Twitter link). RealGM confirms that the pick going to Phoenix is Washington’s own.

Blazers Acquire Brian Roberts; Heat Duck Tax

February 18th, 2016 at 11:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nick Turchiaro / USA TODAY Sports Images

5:19pm: The Heat traded Brian Roberts and Miami’s unprotected 2021 second-round pick to the Trail Blazers for cash, the teams announced. The move takes the Heat beneath the luxury tax threshold, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter), and averts the repeat-offender tax penalties the team had been facing,

Miami progressively shed salary throughout the season, dealing Shabazz Napier, Zoran Dragic, Mario Chalmers, James Ennis, Chris Andersen and finally Jarnell Stokes and Roberts in separate deadline-day deals to avoid becoming the first NBA team hit with the repeater tax, which starts at a rate of $2.50 for every dollar spent. The tax isn’t calculated until the final day of the regular season, and the Heat are only about $1MM shy of the $84.74MM threshold, so they could still add enough salary to again cross it. That’s an unlikely proposition given their months-long efforts, however.

The Heat gain a trade exception worth Roberts’ $2,854,940 salary. It’s the second time the point guard has been traded this week, as he went from the Hornets to the Heat in Tuesday’s three-team Courtney Lee trade. The contract for the 30-year-old Roberts expires at season’s end, and he’ll surely hope for more opportunity to showcase himself for free agency than he saw in Charlotte. His 4.8 points, 1.3 assists and 11.1 minutes per game are all career lows for the fourth-year veteran. Blazers GM Neil Olshey hinted in the team’s press release that Roberts will get a chance to contribute in Portland.

“Brian is an experienced player and a quality person,” Olshey said. “He has a skill set we value and fills a positional need as we head into a critical time in the season.”

Roberts went into Portland’s open roster spot and the team’s ample cap space. Miami’s deadline moves, including the Stokes trade, leave the Heat with the regular-season minimum of 13 players.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports first reported the trade (Twitter link). Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel identified the second-round pick going to Portland as a 2021 selection (link to Twitter). RealGM confirms the pick is Miami’s own and carries no protection.

Cavs Acquire Frye, Trade Varejao To Blazers

February 18th, 2016 at 11:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kim Klement / USA Today Sports Images

4:52pm: The Cavaliers have acquired Channing Frye and traded Anderson Varejao to the Trail Blazers in a deal that’s officially structured as two separate trades, the Cavs announced via press release. The Blazers and Magic have also formally acknowledged their respective sides of the arrangement. The Cavs sent Varejao and their top-10 protected 2018 first-round pick to the Trail Blazers for their own 2020 second-round pick, which Cleveland had relinquished to Portland in a previous trade. Cleveland then sent it to the Magic, without protection, along with Jared Cunningham, for Frye. The Blazers subsequently waived Varejao, and John Denton of Magic.com confirms an initial report from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the Magic will waive Cunningham (Twitter link).

The Cavs hadn’t been optimistic about landing Frye, believing the Clippers would outbid them, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (on Twitter), but L.A. wouldn’t bite on a reported proposal that reportedly involved Lance Stephenson and C.J. Wilcox. The Magic had been trying to trade Frye, according to an earlier report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who suggested the effort to find a taker for the 32-year-old would accelerate once the team traded Tobias Harris, Frye’s cousin. Frye has two years and nearly $15.228MM left on his contract after this season.

“Channing Frye is someone we know well. His length, floor spacing ability and locker room presence will impact us positively,” Cavs GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “He is a great fit with our group, both on the court and off, and we look forward to Channing, his wife Lauren, and their children, Hendrix and Margaux joining us here in Cleveland.”

The 32-year-old Frye has long been a prototypical floor-stretching big man, nailing 39.7% of his 3-pointers this season and 38.7% for his career. He averaged 17.1 minutes per game this season in Orlando, the second fewest of his career but more than Varejao, who saw 10.0 minutes per game this year in Cleveland, where he’s spent all of his 12 NBA seasons. The longtime confidant of LeBron James, who entered the league the same year Varejao did, saw his playing time slashed to new lows this season as he returned from an injury that prematurely ended last season for him.

“Anderson is a special player, teammate and person,” Griffin said. “Few players have earned the respect, support and admiration of an entire organization, fan base and community as Andy did here. Those are all things that made this a difficult deal to do. At the same time, we have a deep obligation to do whatever we can to reach our ultimate goal and we believe this was a deal that improves our team now and positions us better in the future as well. We thank Andy for his hard work, dedication and contributions to the Cavaliers and our community and wish him and his wife, Marcelle, the very, very best.”

The Cavs reportedly offered Varejao for Frye to the Magic, who were reluctant, but the Cavs insisted that they be able to offload Varejao somehow if they were to come away with Frye, wary of the tax implications of having both on the roster. Thus, the Blazers came into the picture, absorbing Varejao into their ample cap space and turning a second-rounder into a first for their trouble. Varejao has close to $10MM in guaranteed salary for after this season remaining on the extension he signed with the Cavaliers in 2014.

“This was an opportunistic way to use our cap room to acquire a valuable asset,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey said.

The pair of swaps save the Cavaliers an estimated $10MM in combined salary and projected luxury tax penalties, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com notes (Twitter link). Frye makes $8,193,029 this season, while Varejao has a $9,638,554 salary that increases slightly thanks to a 5% trade kicker. Cunningham makes the three-year veteran’s minimum salary of $981,348 but only costs $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, to the Magic because he is on a one-year deal. Orlando will be stuck with that figure on its books, though that’s scarcely burdensome, since the subtraction of Frye takes the Magic significantly below the salary cap.

It’s somewhat surprising that Orlando isn’t keeping Cunningham, the 24th overall pick from 2012 whose NBA career was in jeopardy before a strong preseason performance in which he averaged 12.4 points per game allowed him to make Cleveland’s opening-night roster on what was initially a non-guaranteed deal. He forged a close kinship with LeBron. Regardless, neither he nor Varejao will be allowed to rejoin Cleveland this season even if they clear waivers and become free agents.

The Cavaliers used their $10,522,500 Brendan Haywood trade exception to accommodate the Frye trade, reducing its value to $2,329,471. The Varejao trade allows them to create a new sizable trade exception, worth $9,638,554, that won’t expire for another year. Offloading Cunningham allows the Cavs another new trade exception, worth $947,276.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News first reported the Cavs would acquire Frye from the Magic (Twitter link). Sam Amick of USA Today had news of Varejao going to the Blazers (Twitter link), while Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported that the Blazers would waive him (Twitter link). USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt heard Cunningham was going to Orlando (Twitter link), while Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports relayed that he’d also be waived (Twitter link). McMenamin had word that the first-rounder was going to Portland (Twitter link), and Eric Gunderson of The Columbian heard that the first-rounder headed to Portland was top-10 protected (Twitter link). Spears reported the Magic would get a second-round pick (Twitter link). RealGM shows it’s Cleveland’s own 2020 pick and unprotected, and also confirms that the 2018 first-rounder going to Portland is Cleveland’s own.

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