Brendan Haywood to the Nets?
Brendan Haywood trade talks are not done. According to reports from Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Cleveland Cavs are looking at using Haywood’s contract as part of a package to bring over Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson.
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Haywood has a 10 million contract for next year. It is nonguaranteed if Haywood is waived before August 1. That date is getting closer all the time.
Originally it was thought that a cash strapped team like the San Antonio Spurs would make a play for Haywood in order to further their goal of signing LaMarcus Aldridge. In the end, the Spurs dumped center Tiago Splitter onto the Atlanta Hawks to open up the necessary room. Aldridge has reportedly agreed to max deal to come there.
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Like San Antonio, Brooklyn is a team with limited mobility under the salary cap rules. In fact the Nets have hit historic levels for the luxury tax. They are getting hit with the repeater tax this year. They have attempted to shop just about anyone on their roster for cap relief. They only managed to deal away Mason Plumlee.
Dealing away Johnson to the Cavs would allow the Nets to get out from the second highest contract in next year’s NBA. Johnson is due to make just south of twenty five million dollars next year.
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That amount of money also makes Johnson harder to trade. The Cavs could not just deal away Haywood, but they also need to include about ten million dollars more in salary. The only salary that the Cavs could sacrifice to complete the deal would be the contract of Anderson Varejao. Varejao is a locker room favorite even though he spent much of last season on the bench with injuries. Trading Varejao would be similar to the time that the Hornets traded Kenny Gattison.
All signs point to Haywood ultimately not making that ten million dollars this year, whether the Cavs waive him or the team he is traded to waives him.