Cleveland Cavaliers engaged in trade talks with Atlanta Hawks to free cap space
By Josh Hill
The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to toss fuel overboard in an attempt to free up as much cap space as possible to make a surprise 11th hour run at signing LeBron James.
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It’s not a surprise run to the Cavs, as they’ve been planning this since 2010, but to the rest of the world, their involvement in the LeBron sweepstakes and their legitimate place near the top of the power rankings is shocking a lot of people. As part of trying to get LeBron back, the Cavs need to dump Jarrett Jack’s two-year contract and in doing so also need to dump the contract of Marcus Thornton, the player they’d get back in a trade that exorcised Jack’s figure from their books.
Atlanta is among the teams the Cavs have recruited to take Marcus Thornton from Nets in deal that would unload Jarrett Jack, source says.
— Ken Berger (@KBergNBA) July 7, 2014
Cavs engaged Hawks in trade talks about a week ago, source says. Clearing Jack's $6.3m salary is key to opening max slot for LeBron.
— Ken Berger (@KBergNBA) July 7, 2014
It’s unclear if the Hawks were down with the talks or not, but given how into Luol Deng they are it’s unlikely that they’re itching to add a ton of salary at the moment. Still, the team wants to get better and adding someone like Marcus Thornton if you can still get Deng makes a lot of sense for a Hawks team looking to catch a break and get better in less than a year.