Report: Cavaliers Have Not Talked Extension With Andrew Bynum

As I wrote earlier today, one of the biggest hurdles remaining in any possible Andrew Bynum-Dwight Howard-Cleveland Cavaliers deal is Bynum's willingness to sign an extension. The Cavaliers are obviously interested in acquiring Bynum and easily have the pieces required to get such a deal done. The catch is that they are not going to trade for one year of Bynum. If anything is going to happen, they have to get a commitment from Bynum that he will re-sign with the Cavaliers longterm.

According to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, the Cavaliers and Bynum's camp have not been in contact at all.

I've had zero conversations with Chris Grant," said David Lee, Bynum's agent. "I would imagine any team involved in this trade would be smart enough to talk to us."

This is not to say that Bynum and the Cavs would be unable to agree to an extension, but rather that they haven't had any discussions up to this point. They could still make it happen, but the idea that this deal is close to being done is simply inaccurate.

Lloyd continued to quote Bynum's agent and he set the two parties even further apart.

Cleveland was listed in a recent Yahoo Sports report as a potential destination Bynum would consider in free agency next summer, but Lee said he had no idea how the two were linked.

"I am often puzzled as to the basis of an article. I am particularly puzzled with that one," Lee said. "When I read it, I was in Alaska with Andrew and his family. I have no clue who he could have been talking to. I was taken aback by the list, considering there is nobody in anybody's camp he could've been talking to. I have no idea where that came about."

According to Lloyd (who is very trustworthy and obviously has a reliable source in Bynum's agent), this deal still has a long way to go. The Cavaliers may believe that Bynum would certainly sign a max deal if Cleveland offered it, but that's still too much risk. They want a firm commitment before pulling the trigger. Furthermore, that's not the last piece. There's still that little bit about the Orlando Magic agreeing to part ways with the best center in basketball.

Again, I'm not saying this deal won't happen -- but you may have to way a while longer.