12:24pm: Discussion stalled when the Clippers tried to make it a three-for-one swap, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who notes Cleveland remains on the lookout for an “athletic/shooting” small forward.
11:58am: Talks have hit a snag, and a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports that a deal is “not happening” (Twitter link).
11:03am: Doc Rivers is high on Zeller, having wanted to draft him for the Celtics in 2012, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (on Twitter).
10:50am: The Cavs have had discussions with the Clippers about swapping Zeller for Reggie Bullock, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
9:00am: The Cavaliers have been aggressively shopping Tyler Zeller the past few days, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Zeller’s role is in line to be reduced, since the Cavs have agreed to trade for Spencer Hawes.
Zeller, the 17th overall pick in 2012, has already seen his playing time reduced this season after he started 55 games as a rookie. He’s averaging 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per game. Zeller makes $1.633MM on his rookie-scale contract, and he’s due a little more than $1.7MM next season.
There’s been little chatter about Zeller this season, but he was reportedly involved in an early version of a proposal to the Bulls for Luol Deng this past summer. That was while former GM Chris Grant was at the controls in Cleveland, and it appears new GM David Griffin isn’t quite as willing to wait for the already 24-year-old center develop into a more productive player.