Cavs eye pick in Nets trade

Akron Beacon Journal

CLEVELAND

When the Seattle SuperSonics used their hefty trade exception to acquire Kurt Thomas and a pair of first-round draft picks from the Phoenix Suns on July 20, 2007, it accelerated the team’s rebuilding plan and ultimately proved to be one of the key reasons why the Sonics-turned-Oklahoma City Thunder advanced to this year’s NBA Finals.

The Cavaliers have spent the last two years looking for their own Kurt Thomas. Now nearly five years to the day of the Suns/Sonics deal, they may finally have it.

But it won’t be as lucrative, and finishing off this deal won’t be easy.

Trade talks involving the Cavaliers in a complicated four-team blockbuster continued on Monday, but one league source with knowledge of the talks cautioned that the Cavs’ role isn’t as entrenched as some national reports would indicate.

Yahoo! Sports reported the Cavaliers would send Luke Walton’s expiring $6 million deal to the Orlando Magic and receive Brooklyn’s Kris Humphries and Sundiata Gaines, Orlando’s Quentin Richardson, $3 million from the Nets and a first-round pick in a deal that would ultimately send Dwight Howard to the Nets.

Gaines and Humphries are both free agents who would have to be part of sign and trades, while Richardson is under contract for about $2.6 million for this season. He also holds an option of about $2.8 million for the 2013-14 season.

Of all those pieces, the most valuable to the Cavaliers is the first-round pick. Which pick they would receive is unclear, but it is expected to at least be lottery protected.

Nets guard MarShon Brooks, who just completed his rookie season, is also involved in the talks and could be headed to a fourth team — ESPN.com reported it to be the Los Angeles Clippers — that would supply another lottery-protected pick that would go to the Magic, who are looking to cut salary and acquire draft picks to begin their massive rebuilding effort without Howard.

While Brooks remains openly available, the Cavs had little interest in him prior to last summer’s draft and don’t appear to be interested in acquiring him now, either. Brooks has the reputation as being a prolific scorer on dismal teams. He put up big numbers his senior year for a bad Providence team and averaged 12.6 points as a rookie on an equally bad Nets team. Questions remain about how effective of a player and scorer he would be on a good team.

The Cavaliers have remained quiet on all trade talks.

“The Cavs are very tight-lipped,” one agent with a player involved in the talks said. “None of this is leaking from their end. I respect them for that.”

One source with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal was far from being completed and plenty of stumbling blocks on the Cavs’ end remain.

The biggest of which is Humphries, who is the hinge to the entire deal.

The Nets need to find a place to park his salary in order to make the trade work. With more than $20 million in cap space, the Cavs are a logical fit. They were heavily involved with trade talks between the Nets and Magic regarding Howard around the trade deadline last season, but the negotiations crumbled when Howard waived his Early Termination Option and agreed to remain in Orlando through this coming season.

Shortly after signing the paper, he reiterated his request to be traded.