Sixers Poised to Catch and Release Brendan Haywood

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Just when you thought the fierce storm of the NBA offseason had subsided…well, we felt a gentle breeze last night when this report hit the wire.

Report: Cavs likely to trade Brendan Haywood’s contract to either Blazers or Sixers http://t.co/9gypgjRq7Y

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) July 24, 2015

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Somehow, Brendan Haywood, who played only a slightly bigger role in the Cavaliers’ run to the Finals than I did (playing 2 minutes total in the playoffs), is under contract for $10.5M this season. Fortunately for the Cavaliers and basically everyone aside from Haywood and his agent, this year’s contract is fully non-guaranteed if he is waived by August 1st, an act as certain as Sharknado 4 being put into production.

So why is Cleveland looking to trade him rather than release him themselves? By trading Haywood, the Cavs would receive a $10.5M trade exception, which they could use later in a deal for an actually useful player, without it impacting a cap sheet which is already set to pay a substantial amount of tax dollars. Enter Portland and Philadelphia, the only two teams with enough available cap space to absorb Haywood’s contract.

This sort of deal is right up Sam Hinkie’s alley, as he has made similar moves in the past with the JaVale McGee acquisition, and more recently, the great Sacramento heist of 2015. Unlike those moves however, the ability to waive Haywood without having to pay his salary or have it count against the cap will severely limit the return in a potential trade. We’re talking about something in the neighborhood of a Cleveland second-rounder, which would likely fall in the 55th-60th overall pick range.

While that may seem like nothing, remember that such a pick was half of the package the Sixers gave up to get everything they received back from the Kings. It’s another something-for-absolutely nothing deal, an area even Sam Hinkie’s biggest detractors would have to admit he’s excelled in since taking over as Sixers GM. Expect the deal to go down within the next week.