Sources close to Cavaliers veterans Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic that both big men would ideally like to play for a team with a chance to win a championship. However, Vardon warns not to read too much into that, suggesting that neither player has given any indication he wants out of Cleveland.
Additionally, even if the Cavaliers decide to try to deal Love or Thompson, it’s not clear if there would be a strong market for either player, Vardon notes. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t appeal to contenders, but trade chatter around the NBA is “way down,” according to one general manager who spoke to The Athletic, and Love’s and Thompson’s big cap hits would make them tricky to move.
Over at The Ringer, Kevin O’Connor tries to identify a few teams that might match up with the Cavaliers in a Love trade, writing that rival team executives believe GM Koby Altman is “just posturing” when he insists Cleveland has zero interest in moving the five-time All-Star. However, O’Connor has a tough time finding ideal fits, listing the Kings, Spurs, Heat, Trail Blazers, and Rockets as some teams that might work in theory.
As Altman and the Cavs consider their options, here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer believes the departure of Malcolm Brogdon is a shadow hanging over the Bucks‘ season and advises Milwaukee to consider Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic as a potential trade target to help fill that void.
- As cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter links) explains, the hard-capped Heat won’t be able to convert Chris Silva from his two-way deal to a standard contract any earlier than January 14, but they may be able to continue using him in most games up until that point, since the NBA has relaxed its rules regarding service time for two-way players.
- Nets forward Rodions Kurucs appeared in court this week for a third hearing in his domestic violence case, as Andrew Denney of The New York Post details. Kurus, who was accused of choking his now-ex-girlfriend, is due to return to court on January 8.
- In a mailbag, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer explores whether Devonte’ Graham, not Terry Rozier, has become Kemba Walker‘s replacement for the Hornets. Bonnell also dives into Charlotte’s solid start to the season, the team’s rotation, and potential trade-deadline plans.
The Ringer article uses a good word, repeated here, to describe Brogdon’s absense: “shadow”. But it ignores Pat Con’ton, who has played about the same minutes as the players mentioned: Mathews, Korver, & injured Middleton. DiVencenzio and SterlingBrown are having good years and get mentioned later.
Meanwhile Brogdon is doing whatever he wants in Indiana, pretty well. He’s not regretting anything.
And again the argument that it was only money that set up the Bucks-Pacers trade. But some starter was going to be left dangling unattached no matter what.
Lopez is doing okay, apparently focussing on defense. Bucks are 11-3.
But again the national media seem to want the star to move from the Midwest!
If Cleveland could eat some salary, Thompson could be a fit with the celtics. I would imagine sending different looks at Embiid and giannis would be the strategy to slow them down and Thompson could add an experienced rebounder to a group with only kanter as a real inbound presence
They don’t really have anything to salary match with Thompson. Celtics have paid so much for Walker, Brown, Hayward and will likely pay Tatum soon. Marcus Smart won’t get traded cause his deal is nice and he’s to value able.
Thompson has been playing really well this season he would be a good pick up for a few teams. Not sure exactly what direction the Cavs are heading in right now. But I don’t see much point in them keeping a veteran centre with a 18mil expiring contract who’s playing well. He’s not apart of any long term plans and in terms of drafting well he’s only going to push what could be a top 5 pick closer to around 10th.
Milwaukee needs to do something to improve their defense.
Melo scored 18 points on them and the Blazers put up 129 total.
And still lost.
13-3. Without Middleton for about half of it.
Brogdon was great for Milwaukee. Bogdan would be great too. But Milwaukee does not really have a “void” as suggested. The rotation has just gotten deeper and it’s working pretty good considering the majority of their games have been on the road to this point.
I’m not sure Sacramento would part with Him for what the Bucks would be willing to part with.
As for defense, when you score quickly and efficiently like milwaukee, you give the opponent more possessions and more points.