Prior to agreeing to a deal that would ultimately send Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard to Los Angeles to join Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, the Cleveland Cavaliers demand assurance from Andrew Bynum stating that the 24-year-old center will sign a long-term extension.
Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski corroborates an earlier report from Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal which stated that the two parties, despite days of rumors, have yet to speak. The only part missing, according to Wojnarowski, is the Lakers’ willingness to let Chris Grant and the Cavaliers speak with Bynum’s agent, David Lee. Wojnarowski adds that the hold-up appears to be with regard to the Orlando Magic, a team continuing to show extreme indecisiveness with regard to trading their franchise player.
“Los Angeles wants the structure of a three-team deal agreed in principle before letting Cleveland take that next step to communicate with Bynum and his representatives,” writes Wojnarowski, “and that won’t happen until Orlando makes a decision that it wants to also lock-in the framework of a trade, sources told Y! So far, Orlando has shown a level of indecisiveness in the talks, sources involved in the negotiations said.”
The Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks reportedly remain as intriguing options to the Lakers center, who is set to hit free agency in 2013. It is believed that the Cavaliers are using both Kyrie Irving and team majority owner Dan Gilbert as sales tactics to entice one of the league’s best centers into calling Cleveland home for at least the next five seasons.
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