In his latest piece for ESPN.com, Adrian Wojnarowski goes into extensive detail on the deadline deals completed last week by the Cavaliers, and offers some fascinating tidbits on how those trades got done, and one potential blockbuster that didn’t get done. Let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
- Before making his series of trades, Cavaliers GM Koby Altman got an elusive face-to-face sitdown with LeBron James to let his star player know what he was working on. Altman later met with LeBron again to tell him that the trades for Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance, George Hill, and Rodney Hood were complete, and to ask for his blessing on the deal that sent Dwyane Wade to Miami, says Wojnarowski.
- Altman had received ownership approval to trade Jae Crowder, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, and the Cavs’ own 2018 first-round pick to the Clippers for DeAndre Jordan, according to Wojnarowski. Los Angeles was on board with the deal, but wanted to find a third team to take Shumpert and to give the Clips a center, since they didn’t want another shooting guard. Altman and Clippers GM Michael Winger weren’t able to find that third team, and since L.A. was unwilling to take on Shumpert (or Tristan Thompson or J.R. Smith) and the Cavs had some reservations about extending Jordan’s contract in the offseason, the deal ultimately fell through.
- The three-way trade between the Cavaliers, Kings, and Jazz nearly fell apart on deadline day when Sacramento insisted that Georgios Papagiannis be included in the deal. According to Woj, Cleveland and Utah were “adamant” that Papagiannis had never been discussed, but Kings assistant GM Brandon Williams insists that his notes confirm that either Papagiannis or Malachi Richardson would be included.
- As an aside, Wojnarowski writes that Williams was handling negotiations because GM Vlade Divac “seldom gets on the phone for the trade-building parts,” even though any Kings trade requires his approval, along with the approval of owner Vivek Ranadive.
- The Cavaliers were very much against Papagiannis’ inclusion in the trade, since taking on his $2.3MM cap hit would have cost the club significantly more than that in tax payments. Utah also had no interest in acquiring the former lottery pick, with Wojnarowski suggesting that Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was “livid” about the insertion of Papagiannis and was ready to call off the trade. As for the Kings, they were hoping to move 2016’s 13th overall pick to avoid the embarrassment of waiving him themselves, says Woj.
- Eventually, Altman was able to work out a solution and talked Lindsey into it, per Wojnarowski. Papagiannis’ rest-of-season salary for this year and his guaranteed salary for 2018/19 totaled $3.2MM, and the Cavaliers were willing to pay that amount to Sacramento, but Cleveland was limited to sending out $2.1MM for the rest of this league year. Altman convinced the Jazz to send the Kings the remaining $1.1MM, with Lindsey getting a little something out of the deal: the ability to swap 2024 second-round picks with the Cavs. The Kings, having been compensated for Papagiannis’ remaining salary, simply waived him rather than insisting he be a part of the trade.
Cavs could just pick up Papa, didn’t he get waived? Cheap 7-1 guy, better than Bogut.
Lol he is definitely not better than bogut, he definitely doesn’t have the same leadership and attitude that Bogut brings, kid would still be in the league if he was better
Bogut is so slow now, they don’t need a white Kendrick Perkins. They need someone that is actually hungry AND able to move. Wheels on Bogut are bald. If you’re going to put a stiff back there, might as well be a younger, mobile stiff.
Unless I’m missing something here, Papagiannis wasn’t even included in the final deal. So I’m lost as to why the terms of it are being mentioned when he wasn’t a part of it.
The Kings wanted to include him. The Cavs and Jazz didn’t. The compromise was that he wasn’t included, but the cash that Cleveland and Utah sent to Sacramento (which wasn’t part of the agreement initially) covered his remaining salary. So the Kings were able to waive him and pay for his remaining salary with other teams’ money.
Oh okay, that makes sense. Thank you for clearing that up!
No problem. I hadn’t really fully explained it in the post, so I added a line to the final bullet to make it clearer.
The Kings front office claimed that one of the Cavs or Jazz were going to take on Papagiannis, with the destination TBD I assume. Both the Cavs and Jazz front office said that was never discussed. Sacramento refused to make the deal without including Papagiannis in the deal which angered the Cavs and Jazz front offices. With neither team willing to take on Papagiannis, the Cavs and Jazz agreed to send out the money owed to Papgiannis ($3.2m for the rest of this year and next) to the Kings to cover the costs for the Kings to waive him.
To me, it sounds like Vlade or Ranadive tried to sneak Papagiannis into the deal and hoped one of the two teams would relent and take him so they wouldn’t look as bad if they waived him.
Okay, I got ya. I was interpreting the article to mean that the teams were paying his salary with him being included, instead of paying his salary so that the Kings could waive him.
I guess it’s still too early for me to comprehend things! Thanks for explaining that.
Had the cavs acquired Deandre what other trades wouldn’t of happened ? Would the cavs of still sent IT for just clarkson. Would Rodney hood or nance still be acquired?
I imagine Thomas still would’ve been moved, since Woj suggests that was a primary goal for the Cavs. Have to think a Jordan trade would’ve thrown a major wrench into the other two deals though, since Crowder was a key piece for the Jazz and the first-rounder + Frye (or his contract, at least) were key pieces for the Lakers. Hard to see how they would’ve gotten done.
Probably no Nance because the Cavs first round pick was a big reason why he was included in the trade in the first place. IT for Clarkson might’ve been possible since it would’ve afforded the Lakers the cap space that they wanted for this summer and next. Lakers probably would’ve needed to throw another piece to Cleveland in that scenario which could’ve been a deal breaker for LA though.
Hood probably doesn’t get moved to Cleveland either since Cleveland and Utah had Crowder plus a minimum salary contract (Rose or Wade, with the intention to waive whichever one they got) for Hood deal already lined up. Obviously Crowder was the selling point for Utah and if he’s included in the DJ deal, Hood is probably off the table. I also doubt George Hill comes over in a trade as the Cavs luxury tax would skyrocket if the only significant piece going out was going to be Shump.
Got a feeling DeAndre is headed to the Spurs in the summer.
Would be a nice fit.
DAJ, LMA, Kawhi and Murray at the point.
Thats such a garbage package the Clippers should be very happy they didn’t take it. Why would they be taking on a bad contract and get rid of the best player in the deal. Good no trade
If he walks they might regret it, but that package is a little underwhelming for the Clippers and I’ve been against a team giving up a significant package for DJ. I don’t think DJ will actually walk though because he isn’t going to get a max contract out in free agency. However, he’s not the type of player you would build a team around so the Clips should look to trade him next season unless he’s going to resign at a significantly discounted rate.
DJ could walk and they wont care. No one is gonna cry over a mid-late first and Jae Crowder
Better to have Crowder and a mid-late first rounder than nothing. Even if the hope by the Clippers front office/ownership is that DJ opts out, its still better to get a return than to let a moderately valuable asset walk for nothing.
Fascinating. Since I like Hood and Nance, and I like Shumpert in Sacto where he will get a chance, I like how things unfolded.
With Shump, Crowder, Frye, and the cle pick for Jordan, and Wade slotted for Miami… that would only leave Thomas & Rose left to trade. Those two and Korver might land Clarkson/Nance if LAL was okay with Korver with $8mil future owed, but that’s not sure. He might help in luring James.
Well the Jordan trade would block one of two of the Clarkson/Nance or Hood/Hill trades at any rate, if not both.
Again for me, if Shumpert were showcased at the start of the season, just left alone at the 2 starting, he would have drawn enough interest to get a big man trade done.
Its hard to justify minutes for Shumpert though. His offense is streakier than JR Smith’s and even when Shump is hot, a cold JR Smith might still be a better option. Defensively, I feel that Shump is slightly overrated as he’s more of a defensive pest than a lockdown defender.
“Streakier than Smith” is a high standard! Hubie Brown says we all know that JR is one of the streakiest players in the game ;) Actually I think “streaky” in itself is overrated. When Smith makes a shot in rhythm, he will take a couple more until his own ego throws him off what he was just doing right.
Anyway early in the year, Shump’s stats were much better than Smith’s, and he is more useful in playing other positions… and your whole paragraph about Shump I would apply to Smith!
Right now I have no complaints about Smith, who is responding well to the changes, but again… a deal is blocked because of doubts about Shumpert. He has been injured all year but would likely be unhappy regardless at being stuck behind Smith again.
Yeah I agree that Smith defensively is about the same as Shumpert, but Smith’s higher offensive upside (as streaky and erratic as it can be) is higher than Shump’s ceiling. When he’s on, and that’s a big IF, Smith can easily be the second or third best offensive player for the Cavs. Expecting Shumpert to contribute at a significant level offensively would be similar to expecting Andre Roberson (a notable offensive black hole) to do the same.
Imagine this new look Cavs team with Jackson, Bamba, Bagley, or Carter in the draft.