Clearly the Cleveland Cavaliers need some help on the roster. A rim protecting big man would be nice, a little help at the three spot and/or some better perimeter defenders would certainly be welcomed.
Now the Cavaliers have a tool to maybe add some of that in season.
With center Anderson Varejao out for the season with a torn Achilles the team has been granted a disabled player exception, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.
It gives the Cavaliers front office some flexibility, particularly around the trade deadline.
Not that it will be that easy for them — there are not a lot of quality rim-protecting big men just floating around out there. The Cavaliers have been calling all season about big men they could trade for — Brook Lopez, Timofey Mozgov, Brandan Wright, Samuel Dalembert, Jordan Hill, a lot of names have surfaced in trade rumors. None of those has panned out and Dion Waiters has not shown to have a great trade value around the league.
Still, look for the Cavs — who are struggling compared to expectations — to try to be aggressive as the trade deadline starts to draw closer.