Johnny Manziel trains with Jon Gruden ahead of Browns training camp
July 24, 2015Brickyard 400, Tribe Woes and #ActualSportswriting: While We’re Waiting…
July 27, 2015The Cavs have finally found a taker for Brendan Haywood and his $10.5 million non-guaranteed contract. The minor shocker is that they’ve traded away Mike Miller as part of the deal.
Per the NBA’s chief news breaker, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavaliers have traded Haywood and Miller to the Portland Trail Blazers along with two future second-round picks. The Cavaliers received some cash in the deal, and also receive a sizable trade exception — or rather, two separate ones for Miller and Haywood’s two separate contracts — which they can use to take on more salary than they send out in deals for up to one year.
The story of the trade, as told in Wojbombs:
Cleveland has traded Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller to Portland, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2015
To be accurate on trade exceptions, they cannot be combined. Cleveland will have two exceptions — $10.5M and $2.85M.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2015
Wojnarowski initially reported that the Cavs would receive two draft picks from the Blazers, but that would make precious little sense — the salary-dumping team is generally the one sweetening the pot with picks, and that’s the case here.1 The Akron Beacon Journal‘s Jason Lloyd and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst corrected that report, saying that the Cavs will send Portland two picks: the better of the two second-rounders they have in 2019 and their own second-rounder in 2020.2
Cavs sending Haywood & Miller plus better of 2019 2nd round picks from Lakers & Wolves they own plus their 2020 2nd pick.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 27, 2015
Miller’s inclusion is a surprise given his long-standing friendship with LeBron James, but according to Lloyd, James gave the move his blessing in part so Miller can get a chance to play significant minutes elsewhere.
LeBron OK with Mike Miller trade, per source, who said Miller wanted out and a chance to play again. #Cavs receive trade exceptions for both
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) July 27, 2015
Miller may be bought out by Portland — Haywood will surely be waived — but the current CBA would not allow him to return to Cleveland for at least a year. Per ESPN’s Marc Stein, Memphis, Dallas, and Oklahoma City may all be interested in Miller’s services.
With this deal done and Rakeem Christmas shipped off to Indiana, the Cavs look to be setting the stage to end their impasse with Tristan Thompson, and perhaps J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova as well.
This story has been edited
- Woj later amended his report. [↩]
- I have included Windhorst’s tweet here as it was more clear than Lloyd’s. [↩]
13 Comments
Unless I don’t understand the rules, they don’t need the big trade exception to sign Tristan since he’s restricted, and certainly not for J.R. or Delly. I think the big one is for Griffin to do serious shopping come xmas season, when teams start looking to dump veterans. He undoubtedly has his eye on a few candidates already.
Glad to see GM LeBron approves.
Correct; they can’t use the exceptions on free agents. They can only be used in trades, even if only part of the exception is used; it operates like a gift card. https://twitter.com/marcusjj19/status/625488149456797696
Specifically, up to 125% of the dollar value of the exceptions plus $100,000 I believe. So they could bring in players worth $13.22M and $3.66M.
Good move.
That gives LBJ time to enjoy his vacation before he has to decide who he wants.
wha wha whaat!!! 🙂 Nice
Nice back-up insurance plan for trade deadline esp if we have someone who is hurt and need a suitable replacement.
Since LBJ is okay with it, I’m okay with it. The Heat amnesty-ing Miller was one of the reasons he left. It would be ridiculous for the Cavs to do the EXACT SAME THING without his signing off on it.
I saw some Mavs fans/writers getting semi-excited about the possibility of signing Mike Miller after he gets bought out by Portland. They’re in for a rough dose of reality. He seems like an awesome guy, great teammate, and future coach. But his playing days seem to be over.
He had that diving save of a loose ball in one of the early games of the Finals, and was possibly the best high-fiver since Wally. Marion had the steal and jam at the end of the regular season. Shaq and Dave Winfield must have done something in a Cleveland uniform. You squeeze that wash clothe enough and you might get a little sumpin sumpin yet.
Yep never fear David Griffin is here!
I believe they do not get that 125% kicker. They are only the value of the TPE +$100,000 and cannot be combined with any other outgoing salary to bring back a higher paid player than the original TPE. But I wonder – can they package another player w/the TPE & take back salary less than the TPE?
Whoops, you are correct. The 125% +$100k is only in a player trade. They can only get up to the same value for the TPE,