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Cavs Trade Rumors: Clippers, Bulls, Hawks, Cavs Eye Suns’ P.J. Tucker

By Nick Dudukovich

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In Cavs trade rumors, Cleveland is reported to be one of five teams interested in Phoenix Suns swingman P.J. Tucker.

The Phoenix Suns are looking to trade swingman P.J. Tucker, and the Cavs are one of the interested teams, according to ArizonaSports.com’s John Gambadoro.

“According to my NBA sources, the Clippers, Bulls, Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Hawks all have interest in acquiring the lock-down physical defender who is in the last year of his contract at just $5.3 million,” Gambardoro wrote.

But as NEO Sports Insider’s Sam Amico noted, the report does not indicate if the Cavs interest came before or after the team’s acquisition of Kyle Korver from the Atlanta Hawks.

Amico believes it would be tough for Cleveland  to work out a trade at this point of the season because they’re so far over the cap and have limited assets to move.

“…The Suns are interested in young players and draft picks. The Cavs don’t really have those things — unless the Suns were willing to take another stab at Jordan McRae, who played seven games with Phoenix last season,” Amico wrote.

The Cavs do have Cedi Osman, who is tearing up the Turkish League. Atlanta wanted him in the Korver deal, but Cleveland said no.

“Osman is a 21-year-old 6-9 wing who is growing into one of the best prospects in Europe. He plays for Anadolu Efes, located in Istanbul, which is 12-2 in the highly-regarded Turkish league. He is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting .563 from the field, .413 from 3-point range,” Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto recently wrote.

Osman told the Cavs he wants to play in the NBA next season. It’d be a shame to trade a wing player–a position teams are always looking to add– who could grow on a championship caliber team in 2017-2018.

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The Cavs have their nucleus for the next few seasons, but eventually, they’ve got to start unearthing some young talent.

Last week, I advocated for Tucker, instead of Korver because of Tucker’s reputation on defense.

“The Cavs don’t need more firepower. LeBron James can potentially deliver a triple-double on any given night. Kyrie Irving was born with the clutch gene. Need someone to take the last shot. He’s your man. Kevin Love is fitting in better than ever. J.R. Smith will be back, ready to fire away. Iman Shumpert is much improved this year, shooting .377 percent from beyond the arc–up from last season’s horrid mark of .295. Tristan’s going to clean the glass and get 10-13 points a night,” I wrote.

At the time of the Korver deal, there weren’t any swingmen on the trade market, which made it remarkable the Cavs were able to land Korver, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. 

Next: Cavs Trade Talk: Ricky Rubio?

Tucker is in the last year of his contract with the Suns. He’s owed $5.3 million for the 2016-17 season.

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