The Cavaliers low risk move to bring in Andrew Bynum on a two-year deal appears to have run its course. The Cavaliers unceremoniously suspended the veteran big man Saturday for violating team rules. What those team rules were is unclear at this moment, but it does appear that his time with the Cavaliers will come to an end.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reports the Cavaliers are likely to begin shopping Bynum to see if they can get anything for him on the trade market. Otherwise, the team might release him before January 7 and avoid paying the remaining $6.3 million remaining on his contract this year and the remaining $12.5 million owed to him next year.
The question is whether anyone would take on the risk of signing Bynum or acquiring him in a trade. His contract is unique because of its unguaranteed nature. But Bynum's work ethic continues to be questioned and his knees are not getting much better or giving very many people much more confidence.
You cannot teach size though and the 7-foot center can still take up a lot of space, block some shots and grab rebounds even in his slowed-down state. Bynum scored 15.1 points per 36 minutes and 9.5 rebounds per 36 minutes in 24 games this season.
Windhorst postulates that the Heat and Clippers could be in the market for some size if they wanted to take the risk and go after the mercurial former All Star.
This decision also says a lot about how bad the Cavaliers season is going.
Cleveland is 10-18 and somewhat removed from the Playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference. Certainly the Cavaliers believed they would be in the hunt for a Playoff spot and sitting comfortably in the East's Playoff hierarchy with Kyrie Irving coming into his own and Anderson Varejao and Andrew Bynum anchoring the paint.
Unfortunately, Dion Waiters has not panned out in his second year and is now coming off the bench. Bynum is obviously gone now. Tristan Thompson and Earl Clark have not developed into strong stretch-4 options.
Mike Brown's return has also marked a dramatic decrease in offense all without the trademark Brown defense. The Cavaliers are ranked in the bottom third of the league in both offensive and defensive rating according to Basketball-Reference.
Murphy's Law is in full effect for the Cavaliers. Parting ways with Bynum only cements their biggest mistake.
