With less than 24 hours left before his contract became guaranteed, the Cleveland Cavaliers have pulled off a trade that will send Andrew Bynum and draft picks to the Chicago Bulls for forward Luol Deng, CBS reports.
The Andrew Bynum-Luol Deng trade will also send three total draft picks, and the right to swap first round picks in 2015 (1-14 protected) to Chicago. The picks include the Cavs’ rights to the Sacramento Kings’ first-round pick this year that they received in a trade back in 2011, and the Trail Blazers’ 2015 and 2016 second round picks that they got in a draft night trade in June.
The Bulls are expected to waive Bynum before his contract becomes guaranteed, clearing some much needed cap room.
Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant, after pulling off a trade no one thought he could, spoke highly of Deng, saying “We are very excited for Luol to join the Cavaliers organization. We have worked to acquire and maintain flexibility in order to capitalize on opportunities such as this. Luol reflects all that we are striving for in building our team. He’s a tremendous defensive player that can impact the game on both ends of the court with a team first mentality and is a high character leader.”
Deng is averaging 19 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. Bynum was averaging 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks on 20 minutes per game. He’ll now have to find his fourth NBA team in three years.
