Shaq to Cleveland, good business for both teams

June 25, 2:02 PMSports Business ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Shaq is headed to Cleveland AP Photo/John Raoux

Shaquile O’Neil has been traded to the first cold city of his NBA career. In the biggest trade of this off season Shaq has been traded to Cleveland for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavolic, the 46th pick in tomorrow night’s NBA draft, and 500 grand in cash.

For the Phoenix Suns this move will likely save the club 9 million dollars in salary and luxury tax. Shaq was due another 20 million dollars in the final year of his deal, but now the Suns are off the hook for that number. Since Wallace is due to make 14 million but will likely take a buyout and retire, saving the club that salary as well.

Yahoo! Sports is also reporting that Pavolic is only guaranteed 1.5 million in salary for the upcoming year. While these numbers may look like a salary dump by the Suns their may be something larger going on.

Suns forward Amar’e Stoudemire has also been rumored to be on the move and the Shaq deal makes more sense from a roster standpoint if the Suns also deal Amar’e and rebuild their club around Guard Steve Nash. To do so the Suns would need faster players and stronger back court defenders. Ironically Wallace would fit that bill somewhat.

For Cleveland they get an inside presence that this club has lacked, they may also finally have the second piece to get Lebron James his first NBA title. James has lacked that piece; some say he lacks his Scottie Pippen, for his entire stay in Cleveland. Shaq may have one finals run left in him, and this move really makes the Cavilers one of the team’s to beat for the Eastern Conference title.

From the business side though we see can see the Cavaliers trying one last time to build a championship team. If this trade doesn’t work Shaq has only one year remaining on his deal, on top of that James is also in the final year of his contract. If the Cavilers fail to deliver a tile with these two star players it seems likely that one or both of them will be elsewhere come 2010.

In all reality this is a classic win win scenario. The Suns get cap space and fall under the Luxury Tax, while proving the opportunity to rebuild on the fly. All the while Cleveland gets a complementary player to their star Lebron and financial flexibility heading into the summer of 2010.

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