The Cleveland Cavaliers are considering a trade for Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace, according to a report by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. Cleveland would use part of the trade exception acquired in the LeBron James sign-and-trade to take on Wallace's $10.5 million salary. Wojnarowski reports that a draft pick may also be involved.
Gerald Wallace Trade To Cavaliers Under Consideration, According To Report
The Cavaliers are actually under the salary cap by almost $7 million this season, but the team cannot absorb Wallace’s full salary without using part of its $14 million trade exception. After the proposed trade, assuming no other players are included, Cleveland would still have a roughly $10 million trade exception available through July 10, 2011. That piece could be used to absorb more salary, if a favorable deal presented itself to Cleveland.
And since no trade exception can be used without creating another: by sending away $10.5 million in salary without taking any back, the proposed deal would grant the Bobcats a $10.5 million trade exception of their own, and -- unless trade rules change in the new collective bargaining agreement -- Charlotte would have one year to use it in a lopsided trade.
Wallace is under contract through the 2012-13 season for a total salary of $31.5 million. He can opt out following next season, when he'll be 30 years old. Wallace, a 10th-year pro, is the only member of the inaugural 2004-05 Bobcats who has been with the franchise uninterrupted. Matt Carroll was with the Bobcats in 2004-05 and is currently on the roster, but he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in early 2009 before being traded back to Charlotte in the Tyson Chandler deal this past summer.
The Bobcats are pushing for a playoff spot in the East, having gone 6-2 since Paul Silas took over for Larry Brown. But Wallace played in just one of those games, and while Charlotte couldn't consider him expendable -- he was an All-Star last year, after all -- the emergence of Tyrus Thomas and D.J. Augustin might make it worthwhile to move Wallace, provided Michael Jordan really needs to cost savings involved.
The Cavaliers have plenty of cap space on tap this offseason if they don’t trade for Wallace. Cleveland has been awful of late, going 1-20 since the end of November. But there’s no chance the Cavs could make a playoff push, even with Wallace in tow and healthy.
For more on the Bobcats, visit Rufus On Fire. For Cavs news and analysis, check out Fear The Sword and SB Nation Cleveland.
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