The trade deadline is tomorrow, Thursday, February 18th at 3PM and the talks are beginning to heat up. The Sixers haven't been mentioned in too many deals, but were brought up recently as a possible landing spot for veteran forward Anderson Varejao.
Cavs also considering a trade that would include a LeBron favorite, Anderson Varejao. Portland & Philadelphia are possibilities.
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) February 17, 2016
Thought there haven't been reports of actual discussions with the Cavs and Sixers, Cleveland has been trying to work out a deal to trade Kevin Love, who hasn't really panned out for them. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier on Wednesday that the Cavs were showing strong interest in Ryan Anderson of the Pelicans and if Love were to be involved in the deal, it'd likely need to be a three-team trade to work out salaries, which could potentially bring Varejao and his $9 million guaranteed into the picture. HoopsRumors.com reports that Varejao $9,638,554 this year and is due to get $10,361,446 in 2016/17, but only $9,361,446 of that is guaranteed. His $10MM salary for 2017/18 is unguaranteed, but he will receive a $4.5MM guarantee on August 1st of next year.
This season for Cleveland, Varejao is averaging just 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in an injury-riddled year.
A deal sending the 33-year-old to Philadelphia wouldn't seem to make sense for them, especially with the amount of money he is owed. The Sixers would likely demand multiple draft picks to take on Varejao, who they'd likely waive if acquired.
Brandon Apter, Managing Editor for Sixerdelphia.com