Why couldn’t Cleveland Cavaliers find a trade for Andre Drummond? – cleveland.com

LOS ANGELES — Members of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ brain trust started sensing it a few days before Thursday’s trade deadline.

After hours of phone calls, an abundance of research and lengthy conversations with a multitude of Andre Drummond suitors, there was a growing sense that a trade would be too complicated — and unlikely.

The Cavs kept working, trying to find third and fourth teams. There was curiosity about how deadline pressure would affect leaguewide decision-making. But there remained one fact that never changed from mid-February, when a mutual decision was made to sit Drummond while looking for a trade.

His bulky $28.7 million contract severely limited the number of realistic trade partners.

There was interest. Sources say the Cavs were in talks with the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks, among others, throughout deadline day. Cleveland was prepared to use Drummond as a way to facilitate at least one of the bigger Kyle Lowry deals. But it never came about.

The Mavericks were always viewed as a logical destination. Not only did they need an interior presence to deal with what could be waiting in the Western Conference Playoffs — Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Deandre Ayton — but they also had an expendable contract (James Johnson). But as with other teams, coming up with a workable financial package was the hurdle.

Sharpshooter Tim Hardaway Jr. combined with Johnson — both expiring contracts — would’ve worked in theory. Just not in practice. Not for the Mavericks, anyway.

Hardaway has started nearly half of Dallas’ games this season. He’s a key rotation piece and the team’s third-leading scorer. Including him in a Drummond deal would’ve helped one spot while weakening another, not ideal for a team that’s seventh in the West and entered Thursday looking for improvements. That was the same issue others had.

Many high-priced players, with contracts needed to reach nearly $30 million in outgoing salary, were too important.

Boston likely needed Marcus Smart’s $12 million as a starting point. Charlotte would have been looking at Cody Zeller plus one or two contributors. A Clippers package required either Marcus Morris Sr. — owed about $15 million annually over the next four years — or Patrick Beverley. None of those teams were doing that. The New York Knicks were optimistic about their chances of wooing Drummond with the promise of a big contract, a sizable role on a playoff team and bright lights.

The few offers that actually could stack players weren’t appealing to the Cavaliers because of the crippling contracts heading to Cleveland. Any bad contract extending beyond this year would’ve handcuffed future team-building decisions for a franchise needing financial flexibility for upcoming Collin Sexton and Jarrett Allen extensions.

Nobody could get to Drummond’s number with contracts the Cavs were willing to take.

The optics on all of this are bad — the initial Drummond acquisition, miscalculating his original value, benching him a few months into this season, waiting for a resolution, failed trades — because the Cavs were forced into a buyout Friday afternoon. They initially believed it wouldn’t come to that.

There was no discussion about keeping Drummond and trying for a summer sign and trade. General manager Koby Altman felt that would’ve been cruel to a player who did everything the Cavs asked and handled a difficult situation with class and professionalism. The NBA is a relationship business and burning bridges over a minimal future asset isn’t worth it.

Still, failing to trade Drummond is hardly detrimental.

Given his cratered value, which happened long before the Cavs decided to bench him, what were they going to get? Last February, they gave up a second-round pick and two players who were on expiring contracts and are now out of the league. So, essentially they missed out on a future second-rounder or two?

Then consider this: The Cavs went into this deadline hoping to get multiple seconds. One for Drummond. Another for McGee. Well, they did get two. It’s just both came in the McGee deal. The net result is the same.

The also Cavs added 22-year-old developmental center Isaiah Hartenstein. Maybe he pans out. Maybe he doesn’t. He carries some upside and the Cavs looked at signing the former G League All-Star this past offseason before he inked with the Nuggets. Cleveland also needed a big to replace McGee and Drummond anyway. In a roundabout way, the Cavs still reached their end goal.

The deadline is passed. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke about knowing — and liking — what he has. There’s still plenty of roster work to be done. But when assessing Cleveland’s relatively quiet Thursday, the Allen move can’t be ignored. That was the big trade, giving the franchise another young building block. It just came two months earlier.

Everything could’ve been different if not for that unexpected blockbuster, which signaled the end of Drummond. It was a small price to pay — even if it led to six weeks of awkwardness.