Report: Clippers now target for Brendan Haywood

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Haven’t gotten your daily Brendan Haywood fix yet? Good, because he is apparently being shopped to yet another possible team. This time it is the Los Angeles Clippers according to reports by Marc Stein of ESPN. The new report is that the Cavs are looking at moving Haywood for Clippers guard Jamal Crawford.

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Yesterday we mentioned the difficulty that Cavs might have in constructing a deal for Joe Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets. Johnson’s contract was so massive that it would take Haywood and probably Anderson Varejao to make the deal work. Trading Varejao is kind of sticky given his relationship with LeBron James and others on the Cavs roster.

So today the Cavs are looking for the shooting help that Johnson might have provided in other places. Like the Nets and Spurs, the Clippers are limited in their cap room. They also have an enormous hole in their front line created by being unable re-sign DeAndre Jordan. While they would not be interested in Haywood to fill it, they would be interested in using the money freed up to try and sign a remaining free agent big man like JeVale McGee.

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Trading for Crawford would give the Cavs someone who could shoot and also someone who could take minutes at point guard if necessary. Remember that the Cavs were limited in their options there after the injury of Kyrie Irving in the playoffs.

Crawford would also enable the Cavs to be flexible on whether they should sign free agent JR Smith. Smith left six million on the table to opt out. His hope was likely to do better than that amount in free agency. Acquiring Crawford or Johnson would take his role as a shooter.

Haywood must be waived by August 1 to prevent his contract from becoming guaranteed. A deal will have to happen this month or the Cavs will likely cut him on July 31.

Next: Haywood to the Nets