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Cavaliers Trade Brendan Haywood and Mike Miller To The Trail Blazers

By Ryan Rosko

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The big move that fans have been waiting on has finally came.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have traded center Brendan Haywood and guard Mike Miller to the Portland Trail Blazers according to Yahoo Sports Adrian Wojnarowski.  The Cavaliers did not acquire a player but did get cash from Portland and received two trade exceptions.

The impressive part is not that the Cavs were able to acquire traded player exceptions. The impressive part is the amount Cleveland ended up with! Since no player was traded back to Cleveland, Cleveland does not have one traded exception worth more than $13 million.

The $2.85 million trade exception is the amount Miller would have gained this upcoming season. This Cavaliers trade was expected for some time now, as the team only had a few more days until Haywood’s contract would have been guaranteed.

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This is Cleveland’s second trade this week, which likely helped get this one done. The first trade was when the Cavs dealt forward Rakeem Christmas to the Indiana Pacers for a draft pick. Related: Rakeem Christmas Trade Sets Up Bigger Move For Cleveland Cavaliers The veteran center was expected to be dealt.

Portland was one of a few teams who had the cap space to make such a trade. Haywood did not play much this past season, in his only year with the Cavs. He played in only 22 games in 2014-15.

With bigs on the roster in Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson (when he eventually re-signs), Timofey Mozgov, and Anderson Varejao getting the minutes up front, there would be limited to no time for Haywood, as shown this past season. With more than ten years in the NBA, he fit the end of the bench veteran role very well. Miller had success elsewhere in the NBA prior to coming to Cleveland, most notably in Miami.

He has had some injury issues and struggled to ply at time like he did when he was in his prime. With two separate traded player exceptions, the Cavaliers have more options during the rest of the offseason and during the regular season to obtain talented players.

Who will they get is the exciting part now and is an interesting debate topic. They could go in a number of ways. Depending on how they fill the rest of their roster, the team could more help up front (as backups to Love and Mozogov/Varejao).

Which ever way they decide to upgrade their team with these exceptions, Cleveland should be able to use them to fill key needs. If they can get the same production like they did when Cleveland used exceptions this past season and get similar production, Cleveland will have hit a home run!

What do you think about the trade?

Next: J.R. Smith Has To Regret Decision To Opt Out Of Cleveland Cavaliers' Contract

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