NOVEMBER 23: The deal is official, according to a press release from the Cavs. Cleveland acquires McGee and the Lakers’ second-round pick in exchange for McKinnie and Bell, as expected.
NOVEMBER 22: The Lakers are set to send center JaVale McGee and a future second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). This will create flexibility below the hard cap to allow the Lakers to sign veteran center Marc Gasol.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets that the second-round pick will be from the 2026 NBA draft. Fedor reports in a separate tweet that small forward Alfonzo McKinnie and big man Jordan Bell will be headed to Los Angeles in the deal.
McGee has a $4.2MM cap charge for 2020/21, which the Cavaliers have no way to absorb without sending out some salary themselves. McKinnie ($1.76MM) and Bell ($1.76MM) are currently on non-guaranteed deals, but their salaries will have to be at least partially guaranteed to make the deal work. The Cavs have to send out about $2.34MM and non-guaranteed money doesn’t count for salary-matching purposes.
Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that the likely outcome will see McKinnie being fully guaranteed, while Bell gets about a $600K guarantee. The Lakers could then waive and stretch Bell to create a little extra flexibility.
McGee started at center for most of the Lakers’ 2019/20 championship season, but was supplanted in the starting lineup during the last two rounds of the playoffs by the more mobile Markieff Morris or Dwight Howard most of the time, with Anthony Davis shifting from power forward to center to close out the Heat in Game 6 of the Finals. McGee is a three-time champion thanks to tenures with the Warriors and Lakers.
It doesn’t sound as if the Cavaliers view McGee as a mere salary dump. The team wanted a veteran big man with experience coming off the bench behind Andre Drummond, according to Fedor, so McGee will replace Tristan Thompson on the roster. Cleveland continues to explore possible free agent deals involving the mid-level, with a focus on backup point guard, per Fedor.
Luke Adams contributed to this story. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
More to come??? Make that Marc G to come!
Pause :)
Where’s the salary matching? He would not fit in the Clarkson TPE
Mckinnie Bell just met the criteria
Here comes Gasol.
Cavs: 82-0
21’ NBA champions
JaVale McGee League and Finals MVP
How will that be possible when they’re only playing 72?
Come man, that’s easy. They’re talking about playoffs too…..
*Come on man, their talking about playoffs too…..
You had it right the first time. Trust your gut
Lol it seemed right but I wanted to have all bases covered
Does this mean that marc gasol is a sure thing for the Lakers?
He & Drummond can play rock,paper, scissors!
Vale thought he skated through but Marky Marc has other plans
Like Marc Gasol, turning 36 in two months, is much of an upgrade over McGee.
Still better than Houston
Salty because your team is still trash or do you just no so little about roundball that you actually think McGee and Gasol are similar?
Which is it?
*know, not “no”.
Methgoat, clearly the Bulls are rebuilding. Gasol brings good D and better offense.
They have been rebuilding since Jimmy butler got traded. I think my Knicks to contending than the Bulls.
Good move for the Lakers really…
Trading McGee and a second for McKinnie, Bell and Marc Gasol. Technically Gasol is a FA signing but thi move is only made to clear a way for him to join.
Wouldn’t be surprised if both McKinnie and Bell are gone and the Lakers sign a couple vets for the minimum such as maybe JR Smith or Dion Waiters
I’m sad to see McGee go. He was very solid for the Lakers and he also seems like a good guy off the court with charitable work. He is likely an asset wherever he goes.
Mckinnie is interesting and looks like he will stick all year –
Can just be thrown in 4-6 min spurts to give opposing scorers fits with his energy on defense.
Might stunt THT a little but the Lakers have to like having both in their back pockets today –
2 spots left – I think 1 will be a traditional set an offence Pg (Teague esqu) and the other either another Big (poss Cousins) or another wing who can shoot ( Korver 3 yrs ago)
There should be a condition on all these draft picks the Lakers trade that the Lakers have to help make the pick with them years down the line…
Is there any team better at making picks 25-60 in the league right now?
Who are all these supposed great Late Laker picks who are still in the league? Josh Hart? Anyone else?
Nance is def a forward now, maybe even a 3. Good for that transition… he’s listed as 6-6 now.
Mcgee gets emotional and cooler heads like Kerr and LJ are not there anymore. How about some leadership Kevin Love. Be the Dray, Javale!
I recall being so mad that GSW was able to re-sign Mcgee after him being important to their title drive. Unlike say, Iguodala, he could have been stolen for such a moderate amount of money, to not be a finals problem the next go-round! Mcgee then had a good series 2018.
Nance 6’7, idk where you see 6’6. Even though he played a few games at 3 after trading for Drummond, he won’t play that this season since we have Okoro, Windler, Osman, and Porter (for small ball) at SF. He’ll be 1st big man off the bench.
I guess this is backup. When they move Drummond.