Pau Gasol is safe, for now, as the Cavaliers have traded Andrew Bynum for Luol Deng and a handful of draft picks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have traded Andrew Bynum to the Chicago Bulls for Luol Deng, the Cavaliers officially announced. The Bulls will also receive rights to the Sacramento Kings' heavily protected 2014 first round draft pick and Portland Trail Blazers' 2015 and 2016 second round draft pick. The Bulls also have the right to swap 2015 first round picks with the Cavaliers, though Cleveland's pick is top-15 protected. This effectively puts an end to rumors of Pau Gasol being traded to Cleveland in a salary dump.
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The Cavaliers were reluctant to package additional assets with Bynum in order to land Gasol, creating a gap between both front offices. Ultimately, the Lakers held out on trading Gasol for a straight salary dump and the Cavaliers managed to trade out of Bynum's contract without needing to waive him by the Tuesday deadline.
A report had surfaced that the Lakers actually pulled the trigger on the deal, but ESPN Radio 710 retracted the tweet moments after multiple reports denied the teams had completed the trade.
Gasol will remain with the Lakers for now, though you can expect more trade rumors to sprout between now and the mid-February trade deadline. The Lakers just stared down the Cavaliers front office, though, sticking to their conviction that they want more than a single-year salary incentive to push them to trade Gasol's $19 million expiring contract.
