The Cleveland Cavaliers have been trying to trade Brendan Haywood all offseason but it has not yet worked out. Despite the lack of impact Haywood would have on a team he is traded to he is actually a very solid trade chip because of his non-guaranteed salary. The Cavs have been linked to Joe Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets and Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers as players they would trade Haywood for to create cap relief for those teams, but those options aren't available to them anymore. Despite having no luck so far the Cavaliers still reportedly plan to trade Haywood and believe a deal is likely to get done according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
Haywood's currently under contract for about $10.5 million which is not guaranteed but it becomes guaranteed on August 1st so Cleveland needs to either trade him or cut him by that point to ensure his salary doesn't get added to their already extraordinarily high luxury tax bill.
Windhorst also reports that the Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trail Blazers are the only two teams in the NBA with enough cap space to be able to take Haywood in a trade. It is also reported that in order to trade Haywood the Cavaliers would have to add in another asset, likely the 2019 second round pick they just received for trading Rakeem Christmas to the Indiana Pacers.
The Cavaliers want to trade Haywood instead of just releasing him because trading Haywood would give Cleveland a huge trade exception that they could use later in the season should they deem it necessary. Last season the Cavaliers used a trade exception to acquire Timofey Mozgov and that ended up being a huge move to help turn their season around.
The plan for the Blazers or the 76ers, should they make the trade, would be to waive Haywood immediately after acquiring him so that they don't have to pay his salary. Haywood has said he has no plans to retire at the age of 35 as he is keeping himself in shape and hopes to sign on with a team after he is ultimately waived either by the Cavaliers or someone else.
Cleveland reportedly is still very confident that a deal will get done and there is really no reason it shouldn't. The team that acquires Haywood will also likely be getting a second round pick and will have to give up basically nothing in return, so a deal should be done within the next week involving Haywood.
