May 22, 2013

On Antawn Jamison Trade Rumors, Value

January 5, 2011 by 24 Comments

The Internets were abuzz Wednesday morning as rumors circulated around the Cleveland Cavaliers potentially moving veteran forward Antawn Jamison. 

While nothing appears imminent at this stage, and rumors of third-party scouts attending a Cavalier practice remain unconfirmed, a source close to the team tell WFNY that Jamison has played himself into a level that is second only to Anderson Varejao in terms of trade value.

“Looking at his recent play, Jamison has all but made himself as untouchable as Andy,” the source said.  “At this point, the Cavs may be looking for a king’s ransom if they were to move him.”

While some Cavalier fans see Jamison as an aging forward who will not be a part of the rebuilding process, the team sees him as a veteran leader in the locker room.  Antawn not only has taken a leadership role with the younger players on the Cavaliers, but he understands Byron Scott’s offense, has seen occasional runs at calling plays and has been productive since returning from an early-season knee injury.

Coming off of a season-high night of 35 points to go with 10 rebounds in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Jamison has seen his per-game averages creep up to 15.5 points (a team-high) and 5.9 rebounds.  Stripping out the month of October where Jamison shot a woeful 31.8 percent from the floor and battled a knee injury, the veteran “stretch” four’s totals are even more impressive.

And if his recent string of play is not enough to increase his trade value, do not discount how much a $15 million expiring contract means to other would-be suitors.

“If the Cavs were to trade Jamison now, any assets they receive in return would likely tie them up financially well beyond next season [when Jamison's contract expires],” the source said. 

Playing for a contender, which Jamison has long stated as his goal, he would most likely be coming off of the bench and playing considerably fewer minutes than he does in the current Byron Scott system.  What another team would pay for that amount of production at this stage of the season does not jive with what the Cavs would be looking for in return.

Once thought to be a member of the perceived walking dead through the halls of Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers are pleasantly surprised with what Jamison has provided through an eight-win start to the season. Providing mental toughness, Jamison has shown the ability to bounce back from injury and a bench role/perceived demotion. While Chris Grant continues to make and accept phone calls regarding various members of his team, it appears that Cavalier fans should get used to seeing Antawn Jamison.  At least for the time being.

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(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

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  • The Conductor

    Hahaha, so basically this is a non-story. I should be an editor for WFNY. I would have read this article and cut it down to this sentence:

    “Jamison isn’t going to be traded and the Cavs still stink.”

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    I love how anything aside from “ANTAWN JAMISON HAS BEEN TRADED” is a non-story.

  • andy

    @The Conductor: Hahaha, so basically this is a non-comment. I should be an editor for your comments. I would have read this comment and cut it down to this sentence:

    “Gosh, I don’t have anything helpful to contribute, but I sure am happy to be a [donkey].”

  • Ben

    Beasley fouled him there.

  • Timothy

    Sell high! Sell high! Even if he is playing well, he’s an expensive, old vet on a terrible basketball team. They don’t have to just give him away, but the Cavs should absolutely move him if there are takers with decent offers on the table.

  • mgbode

    @timothy – be careful what you wish for. as mentioned in the article, if we trade Jamison, we’ll likely be locked longer term into a worse player (however also get draft picks and possibly young players).

    jamison’s trade value is really next february or possibly over the summer if someone is desperate enough. hopefully he continues his play to keep his trade value up.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    “jamison’s trade value is really next february or possibly over the summer if someone is desperate enough”

    Bingo.

  • sealedhuman

    Trade him to Dallas! Cuban loves paying too much for productive yet aging talent. I know he doesn’t precisely play the same position as Butler, but the Mavs need bodies and Jamison can provide a nice offensive boost.

    I’m with Timothy. We need to ship him out before the trade deadline while he still has (somewhat) big value. Same with Varejao!

  • Timothy

    My comment was more about the “king’s ransom” line in the piece; so don’t take back a crappy contract for him. Grab some picks and some prospects and move on with life. Doesn’t need to happen right this minute, but we don’t know if he’s going to keep playing like this the whole season. Jamison is prone to injury, especially if he’s going to be getting big minutes, and the Cavs should move him while his value is up. He’s already had knee issues this year, and those particular injuries can be pretty touchy as the games pile up.

  • Gren

    ‘While some Cavalier fans see Jamison as an aging forward who will not be a part of the rebuilding process’

    I’m in that camp. Trade him as soon as you can.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Vengeful Pat

    Isn’t this what we wanted from Jamison? Weren’t we saying back in November that if he didn’t start playing well, we wouldn’t be able to trade him and we’d get stuck with him until he hits free agency? If there’s a decent trade out there, I think the Cavs have to make it. We’re talking about a guy shooting 43.5% from the field, 33.8% from the 3-point line, and 69% from the free throw line. Even if he has shot better since October, he’s still not a very good shooter and he’s a terrible defender… actually his stats for December are pretty close to those overall stats I gave. I love that he’s a selfless player and a good guy, but he’s not somebody who can put a team on his back for stretches. I just don’t see the point of keeping him around for another year and risking a serious decline in production (or career-ending injury) before trading him next season. If there is a reasonably fair trade to be had, I’d rather the Cavs did it this season.

  • The Conductor

    First of all, wow you guys are testy. An by testy I mean testicles. Second of all, if you really want to see what you should do with Antawn’s misspelled first name, look here:

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=35d2rnm

    We could start our own Chinese sweatshop!

  • dr. cleveland

    I think most people recognize that we are better off not paying out his contract and getting back any kind of young guys or picks we can, but I think the problem lies in the fact that the salaries have to match up in an NBA trade. That means we means we have to take on someone at least making something significant in addition to the assets we really want in any trade that involves him. I really doubt we’d be getting anyone that deserves their salary back for him. And trading him to a contender means the picks we get most likely aren’t worth much. Therefore, I really don’t see the Cavs trading him and making out much on the deal, but would be fine with seeing him go.

  • mgbode

    why would Houston trade their $$$-maker (even if he never plays)?

  • VooDoo

    The fact that the Cavaliers have “untouchable” players is kind of funny to me. There isn’t a single player on that roster I wouldn’t consider trading. If Chris Grant believes noone is untouchable the franchise is in worse shape then I previously thought.

  • Stinkfist

    “Looking at his recent play, Jamison has all but made himself as untouchable as Andy”
    The Cavs are 8 and 20-something. No one is untouchable

  • Dave

    I wouldn’t consider any player completely untouchable. I’d call Andy and Boobie Gibson players who we’d probably like to keep if we can, because both of them give you quite a bit and are relatively young.

  • mgbode

    @Voodoo – I thought Scott did a pretty good job of qualifying what ‘untouchable’ meant. We won’t just dump Jamison for the sake of dumping him. We want something back. But, since any contender that would trade for him would use him as a backup, it’s doubtful they would give us anything useful in return (especially when you factor in his contract runs through next year as well).

    Therefore, he is ‘untouchable’ because his value to the Cavs >> his value to other teams. This changes over the summer or next February when his contract becomes expiring and teams value him as a rental.

    One more note: Jamison’s $17mil expiring contract could be an absolutely HUGE trading chip next season depending on how the CBA plays out. If the penalty for being over the cap greatly increases, teams could be scrambling to slash salary where they can. Of course, the opposite is true and his expiring could be worth less after the CBA (for example: if they agree to restructure existing contracts and retrofit a hard cap that doesn’t start for a couple of seasons).

  • Roosevelt

    When I read these articles, I see “Jamison about to be traded”. There is no sense at all in keeping him. The point is just to pretend that we still want him, and get a few extra considerations in a trade.

  • Bill Simmons

    Bam. Playoffs. Do it, Grant!!!

  • dwhit110

    “I thought Scott did a pretty good job of qualifying what ‘untouchable’ meant. We won’t just dump Jamison for the sake of dumping him. We want something back.”

    No kidding. We’re rebuilding. We’re not going to just dump assets for the sake of dumping them! That qualifies as “untouchable” now? Count me in the group of people who thought this article was inane. If someone offers a deal for Jamison where we’ll get younger players who could be part of a future nucleus, he’s gone… which apparently now qualifies as “untouchable”. /scratcheshead

  • Bob Goosmann

    “What another team would pay for that amount of production at this stage of the season does not jive with what the Cavs would be looking for in return.”

    This is pretty funny…the word is “jibe.” But I would agree that there’s been a lot of jive talking coming from the Cavs this season.

  • H.A.

    AJ shouldnt be untouchable. He should be a top priority to trade to a team with a better chance at winning. The Cavs are 2-3 seasons away from sniffing the playoffs IMO. AJ is a classy guy, do him a favor and let him go somewhere that he’d at least play in the post season.

    The first team that wants Jamison for his production and is willing to help us dump salary (the same way we got him from Washington), take that deal and dont look back.

  • Biki

    maybe with Caron Butler going down for the year and his expiring contract the Mavs would consider bringing Jamison back to play the 3/4 for them. throw in Beaubois who has game and one of their 3 other bench guys who are on their last year of their contracts (Cardinal, Tim Thomas, Ajinca, Buckner, etc. we would have another $13ish mil coming off books this summer instead of waiting till summer of 2012

    Dirk has been dinged up too, so Antawn definitely could provide value for them in this heated West race