It seems rather evident that the Cleveland Cavaliers, in desperate need of a rim protector, would like to trade for Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov.
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Why wouldn’t they? Not only does he fit a need, but Timofey Mozgov is also relatively young, improving and is signed to a very team-friendly deal. On the flip side, those are all the same reasons the Denver Nuggets don’t want to trade their center unless somebody is to give them an offer they can’t refuse.
Are the Cleveland Cavaliers willing to do that? It doesn’t appear they’re that desperate right now though if they have trouble defending the rim this season, it’s possible the Cleveland Cavaliers may be willing to overpay for the big man.
How much? Might the Memphis Grizzlies first-round pick, owned by the Cleveland Cavaliers be enough to sway the Denver Nuggets? It’s a question asked by Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders.
"Thompson probably doesn’t get it done. Maybe the Grizzlies pick (top-five protected and 15-30 protected through 2016, top-five protected in 2017 and 2018, unprotected in 2019) from the Memphis Grizzlies (Marreese Speights) gets it done, but I wouldn’t be parting with that if I were Cleveland."
That’s a hefty sum, especially given the Cavaliers won’t have much salary cap room for impact additions moving forward and the Memphis Grizzlies could potentially be facing a re-build scenario in the somewhat near future.
Still, selling Timofey Mozgov for anything short of such a price would be a mistake on the part of the Denver Nuggets who need to be overwhelmed for such a deal to go down.