On Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced they have acquired forward/center Marreese Speights, guard Wayne Ellington, guard Josh Selby, and a future first round draft pick from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for forward John Leuer.
View the official Cleveland Cavaliers press release here.
The terms of the draft pick gets tricky in that the Cavs will receive Memphis’ first round pick after they have satisfied their current pick obligation to the Minnesota Timberwolves. 2015 is the first year the pick could come into play for Cleveland. However the pick is 1-5 and 15-30 protected in 2015-16 (6-14 pick) and 1-5 protected in 2017-18. If it is not used by 2019 it becomes an unprotected pick.
Speights was the 16th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. He has appeared in 40 games with the Grizzlies this season averaging 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game.
Ellington was the 28th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has played in 40 games with Memphis this season averaging 5.5 points and 1.3 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game.
Selby was the 49th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft by the Grizzlies. He has played in 10 games with Memphis this season averaging 2.0 points in 5.9 minutes per game.
The trade weighed heavily in the Cavaliers favor as they received frontcourt help with the acquisition of Speights, and backcourt help in Ellington and Selby. They increased their draft flexibility with the inclusion of the future first round pick. In return, Memphis was able to dump salary to keep under the cap. It was an important move, but they paid a hefty price to the benefit of the Cavaliers.
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