The Cleveland Cavaliers finally shipped out Brendan Haywood and his non-guaranteed contract, which could help move along the rest of their offseason plans.
Haywood and Mike Miller are now technically the property of the Portland Trail Blazers, traded with a pair of second-round draft picks for two trade exceptions, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The Haywood exception is worth $10.5 million, while Miller's is valued at $2.85 million.
Trade exceptions don't impact luxury tax payments. With the Cavs well into tax territory, it's possible this was a purely financial move.
Former NBA executive Bobby Marks laid out the savings provided:
CLE right now with 102m in salary if you factor in Tristan Thompson at a near max #.