NBA Trade Rumors: Cleveland Cavaliers Target Several Key Players As NBA Trade Deadline Nears
NBA trade rumors suggest the Cleveland Cavaliers are targeting several key players. The latest NBA trade rumors involving the Cavs link the team to Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, Ben McLemore of the Sacramento Kings, Trevor Ariza of the Houston Rockets, and Jared Dudley of the Washington Wizards. A report from CBS Sports confirms that the Cavs have expressed trade interest in all these players, revealing the possibility that a deal could take place before the NBA trade deadline on February 18.
All the players that the Cavs are targeting are wing players, potentially giving the team another threat from behind the three-point line. From the group of players listed, the most available has to be Trevor Ariza. The Houston Rockets are heading the wrong direction in the Western Conference standings and could look to jettison his salary before the NBA trade deadline. Ariza makes about $8.2 million this season before having salaries of about $7.8 million next year and then about $7.4 million for the 207-18 NBA season.
Kyle Korver may be seen as the best player appearing in these Cavaliers trade rumors, as he has been a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team with his superior shooting. There isn’t a lot of incentive for the Atlanta Hawks to trade him, though, unless the front office is completely overhauling the team. If Al Horford and Jeff Teague get traded first, then Korver could be the next domino. He is averaging 9.3 points per game this season and is a 43 percent shooter from three-point range. That could make him extremely valuable in Cleveland.
Ben McLemore is another option out there, as he would be an inexpensive acquisition when it comes to salary, but the Sacramento Kings may want a first-round pick to make it happen. McLemore could give the Cavs added depth on offense off the bench and valuable minutes as the team gets closer to the 2016 NBA Playoffs. He is another name that may hold a lot of interest for the Cavs, but who likely would require a bigger package of players and picks than the Cavs want to give up right now.
Two players from the New Orleans Pelicans have also been linked to the Cleveland Cavaliers in recent NBA trade rumors. Those players were Tyreke Evans and Omer Asik. Evans has now been ruled out for the rest of the NBA season due to injury, but Asik could give the Cavs low post rebounding without sacrificing anything on defense. Asik is under contract through the 2019-20 NBA season at a rate ranging from about $9 million to $12 million a year.
If the Cleveland Cavaliers prove willing to pay the full salary of Trevor Ariza, he could be the most likely candidate to emerge from these NBA trade rumors. Ariza would provide the Cavs with some instant offense off the bench, but he is also the type of hard-nosed defender that the team could need in the 2016 NBA Playoffs. There is a chemistry question when it comes to Ariza and a question of whether a seventh NBA team would be his final destination.
Fans of the Cavaliers are going to have a lot of opinions about the players linked to the team in the most recent NBA trade rumors. Each player has different attributes that they could bring to the team, with the most common theme being a player who can be a deep shooting threat off the bench. That might all be settled by simply signing Joe Johnson if the Brooklyn Nets do buy him out, as other NBA rumors have seemed to indicate. If Johnson isn’t keen on playing in Cleveland, there seem to be many other options available at the right price.
[Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images]
