The Cleveland Cavaliers can breathe easy now after finally ridding themselves of Brendan Haywood's $10.5 million contract.
The Cavs recently inked a deal that saw Haywood, Mike Miller, and a couple of second round picks headed to the Portland Trailblazers just recently.
The Cavs had been looking for possible landing spots for Haywood with Portland and the Philadelphia 76ers reportedly leading the pack. With the deal, the Cavs can now look forward to using the $10.5 million trade exception on future transactions.
Cleveland has traded Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller to Portland, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 27, 2015 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">The surprise move was, of course, the inclusion of Miller. It is widely known that Miller is close with Lebron James but apparently the two had talked about it and the move was not much of an issue.
The move gives the Cavs added flexibility in the trade exception area, although it cannot be used simultaneously with that of Haywood's.
Even though both Haywood and Miller are headed to Oregon, both may likely be waived.
Haywood has made it known that he intends to continue his career while Miller's case could be different.
Haywood was a target of several teams before the Portland trade. He could end up re-signing on a lower deal if he intends to play in the coming season. Among the teams that were interested in the NBA vet were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets.
The case is different with Miller who was the surprise addition to the whole deal. However, there are teams who are still interested in Miller. Such teams include the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies, two teams who could put Miller's three-point shooting prowess to good use.
As far as Miller is concerned, he could try to rejoin the Miami Heat as well and give old coach Erik Spoelstra some outside shooting, which the coach has been looking for.
