The Cavaliers pulled a little salary cap magic Thursday and preserved a valuable trade exception in the process.
The team sent Matthew Dellavedova to the Milwaukee Bucks in a sign-and-trade that created a $4.8 million trade exception, then used it to absorb Mike Dunleavy’s salary from the Chicago Bulls. The Cavs and Bulls agreed to the deal for Dunleavy late Wednesday, but held off on making it official until completing the Dellavedova deal first.
Trade exceptions cannot be combined. By creating a new one for Dunleavy, the Cavs preserved the full $9.7 million exception they created by trading Anderson Varejao last season that they hope to use on a more expensive player in the future.
The Cavs were going to lose Dellavedova anyway to the Bucks, who agreed to a deal with him early in free agency. Thursday marked the first day players could sign contracts with teams.
“Winning a championship with a special group of players. I can’t wait for the first reunion,” Dellavedova wrote as part of a lengthy Instagram post thanking fans and the Cavs for his three years here. “Thank you to the fans for all the love and support.”
In addition to Dunleavy, the Cavs acquired the draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko from the Bulls and sent out the draft rights to Albert Miralles, who was acquired earlier in the day in the Bucks deal. Miralles is a 34-year-old who has spent his entire career overseas. The Cavs had to take something back in exchange for Dellavedova, but it couldn’t be a player in the NBA or else it would’ve triggered a hard cap for this season because of how far they are exceeding the luxury tax.
Veremeenko is a 31-year-old who most recently played in Italy. He is not an NBA prospect.
It’s worth noting the Cavs have two smaller trade exceptions set to expire at the end of this month: a $2.8 million trade exception created by trading Mike Miller last year and they have $2.3 million remaining from a trade exception created by trading Brendan Haywood. They used the bulk of the Haywood exception to acquire Channing Frye.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.
