NBA Trade Rumors: Cavaliers Could Help Facilitate Dwight Howard Trade to Brooklyn Nets

UPDATE FROM WOJ:

Cleveland would receive Orlando's Quentin Richardson, Brooklyn's Sundiata Gaines, Kris Humphries (on a one-year guaranteed deal), a first-round pick and $3 million from the Nets.

In this deal, the Cavs would give up Luke Walton. So...that's good.

Dwight Howard has made it known for a long time that he wants to play for the Brooklyn Nets. Getting a trade done between the Orlando Magic and Nets is not easy at all and they need help from another team or two to make it all work. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the proposed trade has become incredibly complicated and may now include four teams and up to 14 players (!!!!).

It sounds as though this deal may get done on Monday, but with so many moving parts, it could easily fall apart. So what does this have to do with the Cavaliers? Well, the Magic and Nets need to find a team with salary cap space to take Kris Humphries' contract. Basically, the Magic don't want Humphries and they want the Nets to be able to take back more salary. So even though Humphries is a free agent, by including him in a sign and trade, the Nets are able to take back more salary from the Magic -- or something like that. It's really complicated and confusing and I'm having a hard time finding an article that breaks it all down -- probably because it doesn't exist yet. Regardless, the Cavaliers are one of those teams with salary cap room that could take on Humphries' contract. The only problem is that the Cavaliers don't want Kris Humphries. If they wanted him, they could just sign him outright because he's a free agent. In other words, the Cavs are willing to eat Humphries' salary and do the Magic/Nets a favor, for a price.

Per Yahoo! Sports:

The Cavaliers have no interest in Humphries, one of the league’s best rebounders, as they rebuild their roster with young talent, and would add him exclusively as a means to stockpile even more draft picks over the next few years.

In exchange for essentially allowing the Nets to use the Cavs' cap space, Cleveland is looking for a first round pick and other incentives. Basically, Chris Grant and Co. saw an opportunity to jump in as a third team and make a profit from it. From what I gather, the Cavs would take Humphries and maybe another salary or two in exchange for a pick, possibly the draft rights to Bojan Bogdanovic and/or Toko Shenghelia, and potentially other assets. As far as I can tell, the Cavaliers would not be getting Marshon Brooks in any possible trade. Brooks would likely be headed to Orlando or to a fourth team to provide another first round pick.

Ultimately, that's a nice deal for the Cavs. I don't really care about that cap space and I don't care about helping Dwight Howard get to the Nets. What I do care about is the possibility of help the Cavaliers get better and stockpile more assets for the future. While I could be wrong and plenty of things could change, from the looks of it, it's a low risk move for the Cavs. Chris Grant has mentioned on numerous occasions that he likes having cap space because it will allow him to use it as a trade asset in order to get other picks, etc.

There is, of course, the possibility that all of this is a smokescreen and nothing's really close at all. The Magic could be leaking this and trying to get other trade offers from other teams. For now, all we can do is wait and I'll let you know as I hear more information.

Bottom-line: This trade is not particularly close to being done, but it's something to keep an eye on. If the Cavs can get draft picks/other assets for simply renting out their cap space, that's a flawless victory.