The Cleveland Cavaliers have finally added the big man they’ve been seeking all season, completing a deal with the Denver Nuggets.
ESPN and Yahoo report that the Cavs have snagged Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nuggets.
The Cavs will send the Nuggets two first-round picks--the one they just got from the Oklahoma Thunder in the Dion Waiters deal, and the other via a previous deal with the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Cavs have been pursuing Mozgov for months, along with other big men including the Grizzlies Kosta Koufos.
The deal means the Cavs have nabbed the two positions they needed the most--Mozgov, a rim protector and strong candidate for a lot of minutes per game, and Iman Shumpert, a defensive-minded swingman.
The Cavs acquired Shumpert and J.R. Smith from the New York Knicks on Tuesday in a three-team deal that also included the Thunder.
Mozgov played for David Blatt, the first-year Cavs coach, on the Russian national team.
Cleveland is absorbing Mozgov with an exception.
Yahoo reports that the protections on the first-round pick via Memphis are: 1-5 and 15-30 in 2015, 1-5 and 15-30 in ‘16, 1-5 in ’17 and 1-5 in 2018; unprotected in 2019.
The protections on the first-round pick via the Thunder are: 1-18 in 2015, 1-15 in ‘16; 1-15 in 2017. After ’17, it becomes two seconds.
“Cavaliers counting on getting vet free agents in the future a la Miami to sign for less $, hence willingness to trade 2 firsts for Mozgov,” noted David Aldridge of NBA.com.
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