The NBA Trade Rumors continue as the protagonists of last year's NBA Finals are still in the conversation.
It seems weird that the reigning defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers seem restless but their rivals from the West Coast dropped the bombshell move last summer and now LeBron James and company are hard-pressed to make their own.
They were already on the ropes as the Golden State Warriors had them down 3-1, so they had to mount a historic comeback. Thus, adding Kevin Durant to an almost insurmountable rival gave the King and his henchmen little room to celebrate.
But the Golden State Warriors do not look as invincible as they did a year ago. They already have 8 losses before the All-Star break and unlikely to match their historic regular season 73 wins. Adding KD forced them to decimate their bench as well. Do they need to make a trade? Bleacher Report evaluated.
"Are there areas the Warriors could improve? Yes, if you're willing to nitpick. The second team could pack a mightier scoring punch, and there are occasional holes in the interior defense." This is the consequence of the Kevin Durant acquisition as they lost Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes, not to mention Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights.
That being said, "if the campaign closed today, Golden State would have the best point differential ever (plus-13.3 points per game). Four of the five starters are All-Stars, and two of them are former MVPs. This is one of the most efficient, best passing offenses we've ever seen, and the defense is just back of the No. 1 spot."
Writer Zach Buckley simply stated that the Warriors should not do anything-except may be stay healthy.
In the meantime, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a minor trade and it could be a preparation for their next move.
ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton explained why the Cavs trading off Chris Andersen was a good move.
"If the Cavaliers had waived Andersen, the portion of his veterans minimum salary the team pays ($980,481) would go on their luxury-tax bill," Pelton said.
"Because the tax calculation is set based only on the team's year-end books, trading Andersen removes him entirely. And because of Cleveland's current tax bracket, that saves the team 2.5 times his salary in taxes (about $2.45 million)."
It's a money-saver for the Cavs and the assumption is that they are not done dealing (or spending).