Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant was reportedly fired on Thursday. With the NBA trade deadline approaching, meanwhile, the Cavaliers are reportedly open to trading Dion Waiters, Alonzo Gee and Anderson Varejao.
Grant became the first casualty of Cleveland's 16-33 season. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports broke the news on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Cleveland's 119-108 loss to an undermanned Los Angeles Lakers team.
Cleveland has an 80-199 record since Grant took over in June 2010. A replacement for Grant hasn't yet been announced.
In an effort to turn their season around, Cleveland is reportedly open to trading Waiters, Gee and Varejao before the Feb. 20 deadline.
"The Cavaliers are open for business. The two names mentioned most around the league are second year guard Dion Waiters and veteran forward Alonzo Gee," Steve Kyler of BasketballInsiders.com wrote on Wednesday. "Waiters and lead guard Kyrie Irving (have) not meshed well together and the Cavs seem to be accepting that moving Waiters has to happen. ...
"The Cavs have been reluctant to include (Varejao) in trade talks, but sources around the situation say the massive dysfunction in Cleveland has them listening to a lot of things they normally wouldn't. The Cavs look like they are sellers, the question is do they get a deal in at the deadline or does business get pushed off to the draft."
Waiters reportedly has a contentious relationship with his teammates and doesn't get along with Kyrie Irving; Gee became expendable when Cleveland traded for Luol Deng. While the team would prefer to keep Varejao, trading the Brazilian - one of the Cavaliers' top assets - is well within the realm of possibility if the right offer comes along.
Cleveland visits the Washington Wizards on Friday.
