The Los Angeles Lakers are interested in signing the Cleveland Cavaliers center if a buyout is reached.
To the surprise of pretty much no one there is not really a trade market for Cavs center Andre Drummond. Drummond is in the final year of his contract which has a $28.7+ million salary for this season. This salary has been an obstacle for the Cavaliers as they have searched for a trade partner. Should Cleveland not be able to find one, a buyout could be reached. If Drummond is bought out, the Los Angeles Lakers would be interested in a deal according to reports.
As Marc Stein also states, the Cavs prefer to find a trade parter to get something in return. If Cleveland gets anything for Andre Drummond that would be a huge win. Drummond really doesn’t fit in the modern NBA and is not really appealing to teams looking to stretch the floor.
Cleveland made the decision to trade and not play Andre Drummond which hasn’t not helped their cause. Drummond has not played since February 12th and it is not easy to trade a player that is not on the court. A similar, but more intense situation took place with the Cavs and J.R. Smith which led to the team eventually waiving the veteran guard in July of 2019. While the end result may be the same, the way it plays out for Drummond seems to be a lot less tumultuous than Smith.
