Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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Andrew Bynum is linked to the Cavs via trade for the second time in less than a week.  This rumor is rejuvenated due to the report by ESPN's Ric Bucher which stated that the Cavs could be the third team to facilitate a Dwight Howard trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.  Evidently the Orlando Magic are being smart and do not want to be max out their salary to be a meddling playoff team.  They want high draft picks and a lot of them.  The only logical way to get those is to be bad for a few years.  Clearing out the Magic roster and hopefully sending out a bad contract or two with Dwight Howard is a good way to get the team on track to rebuild through the draft.

The Cavs are in a position to help facilitate a trade between the Magic and another team because they have a lot of cap space and plenty of assets.  The Cavs have their first and second round picks for the foreseeable future, the Sacramento Kings' top 13 protected 2013 first round pick, the Miami Heat's 2013 first round pick, the ability to swap that pick with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando's second round picks in 2013 and 2014, the expiring contracts of Luke Walton and Daniel Gibson, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson.  In other words, there is a plethora of picks of various quality, expiring contracts, solid players on quality contracts, cap space and young players with upside on rookie contracts.

The Cavs would require that Andrew Bynum sign a contract extension before they agree to the three team trade.  The Lakers would probably want to make sure that Dwight Howard is open to extending with the team before mortgaging their future on a potential one year rental.  The Magic would want to shed the team of veterans on inflated contracts.  For example, Hedo Turkoglu is massively overpaid and has diminishing skills.  Put him on the Cavs and he fills a hole at small forward and he would only be under contract throughout 2012-2013. 

Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller are not allowed to be traded until December 15th.  It is doubtful that the Magic, Dwight Howard or his prospective new team are willing to be patient enough to wait for that date to pass. According to Larry Coon's great CBA resource www.cbafaq.com and the keen eye of a Twitter follower, the Cavs are allowed to trade Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller 30 days after signing them to rookie contracts.  

This potential trade will probably not happen.  Three team trades involving a superstar and an all star switching teams in a sign-and-trade are not common in the NBA.  It is a trade that makes sense and it would be great for the Cavs.  If the Cavs have a chance at landing one of the few players capable of averaging 20 and 10, they should do anything within reason to make it happen.  Staying up late following the updates on this rumor is not advised, but there is some smoke and it makes sense.