FearTheSword CBA School: Where do J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert fit?

The Cavs trade with the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder has been made official. The Cavs will be welcoming J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the team, along with a heavily protected first round pick from Oklahoma City. So where does this leave the team's assets for the future? Let's take a look.

Trade Math: How do the players match up?

This trade will actually end up being multiple deals, based on technicality.

The Thunder and Knicks are easy to figure. The Thunder will be taking Dion Waiters' $4.1 Million  into their $4.2 Million Thabo Sefalosha trade exception, and are sending out Lance Thomas to the Knicks to create a roster space.

The Knicks are sending out J.R. Smith, who makes $6 million this (actually $6.5 million due to a trade kicker), and receiving Thomas, Alex Kirk, and Lou Amundson - all of whom are non-guaranteed contracts and will be likely be cut.

The Cavs are sending out Dion Waiters' $4.1 million, Alex Kirk's $507,000 and Lou Amundson's $915,000. In return they get Smith, and the Oklahoma City first rounder (protections explained later).

That is deal one. The Cavaliers, being over the luxury tax, can only take in 125 percent + $100,000 of what they send out, which does not touch Smith and Shumpert.

For the second deal, the Cavs will take Iman Shumpert and his $2.6 million into the $4.9M Disabled Player Exception that they got when Varejao went down. This exception was one time use, and could only be used for a one year free agent, or expiring contract, so this makes sense. This exception is now exhausted. Alternatively they could have taken Shumpert into the trade exception (Keith Bogans), leaving them with $2.7 Million to use, and the one time $4.9M DPE, but the restrictions on the DPE made that path a lot less desirable.

The Thunder Pick

Yes, another pick to fawn over. The Cavs will be receiving The Thunder's pick for this upcoming draft, but only if falls outside of the top-18 picks. The next two years it is protected top-15. The following year --2018-- it becomes two second rounders. Given that the Thunder employ Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and are likely to make the playoffs this season, it would stand to reason that the Cavs will be seeing that pick this season.

So where does this leave the Cavs assets?

Waiters was the Cavs only player that could be considered a "chip" this season, but the Cavs will have some interesting options this season, and this summer. Currently they have 14 roster spots in use, leaving one open. Remaining trade assets are looking much better than last week, given the recent hints from Marc Gasol that he will listen to anyone in FA.

Remaining Assets:

Oklahoma City Thunder 2015 First with protections.

Memphis Grizzlies 2015 first (protected 1-6, and 15-30): This pick has gained some value, because were Marc Gasol to leave, there are decent odds the pick conveys NEXT offseason.

$5.3 Million trade exception (Keith Bogans): This exception can be used as many times as the Cavs are able until it is exhausted. It expires one year from the date of the Bogans trade.

Brendan Haywood: This is not something for this season, but next league year Haywood will be worth $10 Million in non-guaranteed salary, which in turn allows the Cavs to trade for close to $11.5 Million.

Cleveland Cavaliers 2015 first round pick: It is important to note that this pick can ONLY be traded AFTER it is made, or one of the Memphis or OKC picks qualify to convey prior to the offseason. The Cavs traded their 2016 first to Boston. This would only be useful in a draft night trade (with Haywood, perhaps?).

Luxury tax wise, not much changes. The Cavs were about $3 million over, they remain about $3 million over.

I don't know how the Cavs new pieces will fit on the court, but they've gained a tad bit more flexibility in the trade market. With a center and point guard still on the wish list, we could have some more trade and/or free agent news soon.