The deal
Cavaliers get: Guard John Lucas III and forwards Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas
Jazz get: Forward Carrick Felix, a 2015 second-round pick and cash considerations
This innocent-looking trade could have important ramifications for the Cavaliers' pursuit of Kevin Love. After going under the salary cap to sign LeBron James, which necessitated jettisoning the non-guaranteed contracts of Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson, Cleveland has relatively few salaries to send the Minnesota Timberwolves -- most of them attached to key players.
A package of Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins (30 days after he signs his rookie contract, which takes his value in a trade from zero to a likely $5.5 million) would be enough to make a trade for Love alone legal under the cap. If the Timberwolves want to attach Jose Barea or Kevin Martin, however, the Cavaliers need to send out more salary -- preferably non-guaranteed contracts, like all three of the players in this trade have.
The NBA's collective bargaining agreement places limits on trading players again shortly after acquiring them, but not for teams -- like Cleveland at the start of this deal -- under the cap. The Cavaliers were able to structure it in a way that they acquired Lucas and one of the two minimum-salary players (apparently Murphy) while under the cap, meaning they can be packaged with other players in a trade immediately. Thomas can't be traded with other players for 60 days, though he could be traded on his own as part of a three-team trade, provided it's structured properly.
Even if Thomas isn't involved, Lucas and Murphy give Cleveland $2.4 million in newfound buying power as part of a trade, all while giving Minnesota (or another team) cap relief. (Lucas' contract is entirely nonguaranteed, while $100,000 of Murphy's salary will be guaranteed after Aug. 1, per Mark Deeks.) That doesn't get the Cavaliers all the way to Barea's $4.5 million salary, let alone Martin's $6.8 million, but it's a step closer. For example, Cleveland could do a trade sending Bennett, Wiggins, Lucas, Murphy and center Brendan Haywood for Love and Barea, which would save the Timberwolves more than $7 million in payroll.
The Cavaliers would like to hang on to Haywood, who could become an incredibly valuable trade chip next summer, when his entire 2015-16 salary ($10.5 million) is nonguaranteed. Cleveland would be able to take on up to $15.5 million in salary while offering immediate cap relief to another team looking to clear space. And Minnesota would surely rather dump Martin's contract, which has three years remaining, rather than Barea's expiring deal. So stay tuned to complicated negotiations between the teams, who might involve third parties to make a trade legal and sensible for all sides.
From strictly a basketball standpoint, this isn't a horrible trade for the Cavaliers. Thomas has shown as much promise as Felix as a professional, and offers a skill (rim protection) in short supply in Cleveland. He's the one player in the group with a real chance to stick on the Cavaliers' roster. Still, this trade is more about the cap than it is the players involved.
Utah Jazz: B
It was nearly certain that the Jazz would waive Lucas and Murphy, and possibly Thomas as well, so there's little downside to this trade from their perspective. Utah gets some cash (a reported $1 million), a second-round pick and takes a flyer on Felix, the third pick of last year's second round whose contract is only guaranteed (for the veteran's minimum) through this season.
Felix is one of a handful of players who benefited from the rush to declare any athletic wing player who doesn't shoot much a 3-and-D candidate. Felix was a good 3-point shooter from the shorter college line at Arizona State (37.4 percent as a senior, 32.6 percent for his career), not a great one, and his WARP projection marked him as a non-prospect. Yet Cleveland took him early in the second round in the hopes of finding a useful role player.
A stress fracture of his patella and a hernia kept Felix off the court most of last season, so there's little to go on as far as determining the progress he's made since college. It's a poor sign that Felix was an afterthought for the Cavaliers in this year's Las Vegas Summer League, playing just 71 total minutes in five games. The odds are against him ever becoming an NBA contributor.
