As soon as he announced he was opting out of his contract with the Heat, LeBron James' people insisted he was looking for the most money he could get as a free agent.
With a return to Cleveland one of the possible landing spots for James, the Cavaliers needed to clear out some space under the salary cap to pay him the money he is demanding.
The Celtics stepped up today to help Cleveland's cause, reportedly agreeing on a three-team trade that clears salary cap space for the Cavaliers. The Brooklyn Nets are the other team involved.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that the Cleveland is sending Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev to Brooklyn and Tyler Zeller and a future first round pick to Boston. The Celtics also add Marcus Thornton from the Nets. Either the Celtics or Nets will send Cleveland a second round pick to complete the deal.
According to ESPN.com's NBA Trade Machine, shedding the salaries of Jack, Karasev, and Zeller clears over $9.5-million dollars as they put together their offer for James.
This move is a sign that James is going to leave South Beach to return to Northeast Ohio. James is reportedly meeting with Pat Riley and the Heat in Las Vegas today and maybe it's to officially tell them he's going back to the team that drafted him first overall in 2003.
From the Celtics perspective, they add two young players with some potential. Thornton is a scoring guard, who averaged 21.3 points per game for the Kings in 2010-11 (in 27 games) but averaged just 9.8 points per game last season in split duty between the Kings and Nets. Zeller, a 7-foot center, has averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game in his two seasons in the NBA. The future first round pick is another asset for Danny Ainge to use in his quest to upgrade Boston's roster.
With Ainge supposedly still working out ways to trade for Kevin Love, this deal might help in that pursuit. The draft pick is another asset to add in to a deal and while neither Thornton or Zeller is a blue chip prospect, they are not completely devoid of talent or value and could be additional pieces used in a move for Love or could be used in other deals to add players coveted by Minnesota in exchange for Love.
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