There have been a lot of trade rumors around Andrew Bynum — if a team trades for him then waives him by Jan. 7 (or if the Cavaliers waive him) they save $6 million on the salary cap.
Marc Stein at ESPN reminds us Bynum is not the only guy in this situation — Orlando has Hedo Turkoglu with a nearly identical contract. He gets $12 million for the season but just $6 million if waived by Jan. 7.
So far this season the Magic have basically paid Turkoglu to stay away from the team. However, the situations around these trades and what the teams want back are different, Stein notes.
The Cavaliers, despite their disastrous 10-21 start, still have playoff aspirations in the “Leastern Conference.” So they appear to be willing to add some salary in a Bynum trade if they can land a difference-making asset, as evidenced by Cleveland’s recent trade talks with the Los Angeles Lakers to acquire $19.3 million man Pau Gasol.
Orlando is not in the same place. Although the Magic decided to keep Turkoglu on their roster through Jan. 7 just in case a trade of some sort materialized in which his contract was needed, they’re not chasing the likes of Gasol in support of a playoff push, which makes a trade even trickier for Orlando than it is for the Cavs to find a workable Bynum deal.
Like Bynum, Turkoglu doesn’t want this to be the end of his NBA career.
There will be demand for Bynum — as up and down as he has been for the Cavaliers there are good teams (the Heat and Clippers, for example) that see him as an improvement over their bench bigs. Those teams don’t want to be on the hook for $6 million for Bynum for the second half of the season, but if they can get him at a league minimum deal it’s different.
I’m not sure there is much if any demand for Turkoglu, a stretch four who has an injury history and didn’t shoot well from three last season. Never say never, but it’s not likely we see him again.