The Cleveland Cavaliers have been looking for big men to help with depth heading into the season. The team has already won the offseason by getting LeBron James, Kevin Love, Mike Miller, James Jones and Shawn Marion, but that does not mean they are settled with the roster just yet. The Cavaliers are still eyeing depth for the team and that could come with a trade in the near future.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Cavaliers were looking to make a trade with the Denver Nuggets for center Timofey Mozgov. Windhorst believes discussions have been ongoing for the past month or so given the center already has plenty of experience with Cleveland head coach David Blatt who worked with the Russian national team. Blatt told Russian media outlet ITAR-TASS that the Cavaliers attempted to negotiate a trade for Mozgov but things did not turn out well. With Love on the roster, would Cleveland be willing to give up a player like Tristan Thompson for the center?
Mozgov would be a huge grab for Cleveland considering their biggest need is a backup to Anderson Varejao. The Cavaliers have shown interest in players like Emeka Okafor and Ekpe Udoh, but no deals have been done. Mozgov is set to earn $4.65 million this season with a $4.95 team option the year after. The Cavaliers cannot afford to trade Thompson for the center because he is too valuable as a backup to Love, but they could give up Brendan Haywood and several unguaranteed contracts.
On his part, Mozgov is denying any idea a trade is coming. The center to ITAR-TASS that is all merely just talk and while he could be very interested in playing for the Cavaliers, nothing is getting done right now in the near future.
"So far all the talks about trade to Cleveland are just rumors," Mozgov said. "My last season in Denver was good, and to try and do something to leave the team wouldn't be smart. Of course, it would be interesting to play for David Blatt's team. I know his coaching philosophy well, after working with him on Russian national team. The thing you like about Blatt is that he always sets the highest goals for himself and for the team. I would like to play with LeBron. But even though playing for a contender is cool, you got to understand that I want to be part of the team and not to just join a contender and ride the coattails, being a burden."
For now the Cavaliers will likely focus on trying to get one of the two remaining quality big men in the league. If negotiations with the Nuggets soured before, they likely will again.