Report: Brendan Haywood on the Trade Block
Former Tar Heel Brendan Haywood is on the trading block, according to reports from Brian Windhorst at ESPN.com. The reserve center for the Cleveland Cavs is due to make ten million dollars this upcoming season, the last year of a contract that he initially signed with the Charlotte Hornets.
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Haywood was rarely used this year by the Cavs. This was doubly true in the playoffs, when the Cavs decided to match the Golden State Warriors by playing small ball.
Haywood ended up on the Cavs last year in a deal with the Hornets when the Cavs were exploring ways to open cap room to accommodate LeBron James and later Kevin Love. His salary last year was just over two million, since it was backloaded into the final year of his contract.
The Cavs now need money to keep the playoff team they have built together. That would include that ten million that Haywood would be sitting on. The Cavs are apparently willing to package Haywood with a draft pick to get someone else to take him. That screams Philadelphia 76ers to me, but there could be other destinations where teams have cap room to burn and value the draft pick. Haywood’s deal is an expiring one, so he would be off the books when the big free agent summer of 2016 starts.
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The Cavs expect Kevin Love and LeBron James to opt out of their current deals to negotiate new ones. At the same time, Iman Shumpert and Matt Dellavedova are unrestricted free agents. Tristan Thompson is a restricted free agent, and he is expected to be optimistic with his demands.
If the Cavs package their first round pick this year that would be the 24th overall in the draft. That is not necessarily a great prize. The Cavs also own the rights to a future Memphis Grizzlies pick.