Andrew Bogut
Oct 28, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes (40) and centre Andrew Bogut (6) fight for the loose ball with Houston Rockets center Clint Capela (15) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron (via Reuters)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are hopeful that the Dallas Mavericks and Andrew Bogut would agree to a contract buyout ahead of the Feb. 23 trade deadline -- which would clear the decks for the reigning NBA champions to sign the Australian centre to a veteran minimum contract. The Cavs would be hard-pressed to trade for Bogut.

Despite owning several trade exceptions, the Cavs are not in a position to acquire Bogut's expiring salary of $US11 million ($AU14.3 million) unless they package stretch-4 power forward Channing Frye and injured forward Chris Andersen |ESPN Trade Machine: Approves|. The Mavs would, in all likelihood, turn down such an offer since they intend to hit the reset button at the end of the season with hopes of finding their next franchise player at the 2017 NBA Draft.

According to ESPN's Mark Stein, the Cavs front office, pressured by LeBron James to make a few deals ahead of the trade deadline, have their eyes set on the veteran trio of Bogut, Jose Calderon and Deron Williams but realise their salaries are too big to be absorbed into a trade exception. The Cavs own trade exceptions from the deals made for Mike Dunleavy Jr. ($US4.8 million, $AU6.2 million), Anderson Varejao ($US4.4 million, $AU5.7 million) and Mo Williams ($US2.1 million, $AU2.7 million). However, the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) rules prohibit them from packaging the trade exceptions into one trade.

Cleveland Cavaliers trade news: Andrew Bogut to Cavs only possible with buyout

"The Cavs know trading for (Jose) Calderon, (Andrew) Bogut or (Deron) Williams is highly unlikely given Cleveland's various salary-cap and asset limitations. The best they can realistically hope for is that one or more of those three gets bought out after the trade deadline and eventually hits the free-agent market," Stein noted during his weekend report addressing trade chatter surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Also, Stein reported that the Mavs duo of Bogut and Williams are not interested in agreeing to a buyout at this stage, further complicating matters for the Cleveland Cavaliers. "Another pesky complication: Neither Bogut nor Williams, according to the latest signals emanating from Big D (Dallas), is said to be particularly interested in a buyout if they're still with the Mavericks after the Feb. 23 buzzer for trades."

The Cavaliers are essentially trying to add a back-up rim protector / centre to backup Tristan Thompson and a back-up point guard to backup Kyrie Irving. Since LeBron James and Irving are the only two ball-handlers in the squad, the four-time MVP is forced to play additional minutes as compared to last season when the Cavs had Matthew Dellavedova and Mo Williams coming off the bench. Stay tuned for the latest on the Andrew Bogut to Cavs situation.

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