The Cleveland Cavaliers successful created a spacious room exception by sending Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller to the Portland Trail Blazers before the Aug. 1 deadline. The Cavs have already breached the tax threshold after signing LeBron James and Kevin Love to lucrative deals, but they could add another high-impact player with the trade room exception created by their recent maneuver.
According to Bleacher Report writer Greg Swartz, the $10.5 million (Haywood) and $2.85 million (Miller) room exceptions allows the Cavaliers to have multiple options in bolstering their lineup between now and February trade deadline.
The NBA writer enumerated as many as five potential trade targets for the Cavaliers, but the names of Kevin Martin ($7MM) of Minnesota Timberwolves and Nick Young ($5.2 MM) of the Los Angeles Lakers emerge as the most intriguing options as they still lack depth at the wing spot .
Averaging 18.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game over his 11-year career, Martin would be a significant upgrade for J.R Smith because he has a better three-point shooting clip (39.3 percent) and thrived more in catch-and-shoot situations (39.5 percent). With the Wolves pushing for youth revolution, Young's days in Minnesota may not that be long.
"He fits the Cavs as a shooter behind Iman Shumpert or as a starter between Irving and James. With J.R. Smith still unsigned, Martin brings a lot of similar qualities to the table. While shots wouldn't be nearly as plentiful on the Cavaliers, Martin could certainly receive his share of open looks," according to Schwartz.
The Cavs could also look into bringing in another mercurial player with streaky shooting in Young, who clearly needs a fresh start after a subpar season (13.4 points on 36 percent shooting /36 percent from three-point area) with the Los Angeles Lakers. With the arrival of Lou Williams, Young is viewed by many as the odd-man out, but general manager Mitch Kupchak insisted the former USC standout can play at the three spot in a small ball lineup. Yet, it won't be surprising Young suiting up a different jersey at some point this season, especially if the Lakers fall out in the brutal Western Conference playoff race.
The Cavaliers will likely have to sacrifice the 2018 first round pick to land either of these shooters, but it will surely give them more weapons to make another run at the championship this coming season.