Christmas Present For All: Hughes Gone?
Posted by disappointmentzone on 24 December 2007
A small Christmas miracle was printed in today’s Plain Dealer: Larry Hughes is being shopped and according to one executive Hughes will be traded long before the Feb 21st deadline. The article states that Washington is interested in Hughes, as is a team in the Atlantic Division.
Which means its time for some guesses…
Boston: already has a great SG in Ray Allen. Not sure where Hughes would fit in there. They already have three massive contracts in Allen, Pierce, and KG.
Toronto: built like a Euro League team and Hughes might be the epitome of an anti-Euro League style. Their GM is too smart to take Hughes.
New Jersey: already has Vince Carter slotted in as the overpaid, under-producing SG. Not sure where Hughes fits in with New Jersey, either.
Philadelphia: might be the destination in a deal that could return Andre Miller, but I have no idea why the 76ers would want to take on a massive contract like Hughes’s. Maybe if King were still the GM.
New York: acquiring terrible contracts and guards seems to be what Isiah Thomas thrives on, so Hughes looks like a natural fit here, and now that Thomas has been (once again) publicly reassured that his job is safe, maybe he can pressure the Knicks brass into one more terrible trade. But probably not.
The thing is, Hughes is terrible and has maybe the worst contract in the NBA. There is no team in the league where it makes sense for him to play for what he’s being paid. If Ferry can somehow swing a deal that gets Hughes off the books it’ll probably be a masterstroke.
The Disappointment Zone 
irreverend fox said
how about this deal: Larry Hughes for:
-3 racks of basket balls
-2 t-shirt launcher cannons
-1 bounce house for kidz zone
or
Larry Hughes for:
-nothing (just take him, seriously…just take him)
josh said
I don’t believe that article for a second.
Moreover, I’m not sure the cap trash we would get in return (see Toine for Ricky Davis) would be any more likely to contribute then Hughes would be.
disappointmentzone said
I could see Washington being interested in Hughes, what with Agent Zero’s injury and impending free agency. But on the whole I think it would be remarkable for Ferry to trade Hughes for anything of value, let alone trade him at all.
That said, there have been a lot of bad contracts in NBA history and a number of them have been dealt. So there’s hope.
josh said
Not to rain on your hopeful parade, but why would the Wiz take on Hughes’s contract with both Zero and Jamison free agents this off-season? Washington bringing on Hughes now would give them that much less room to re-sign them in the off-season without going over the luxury tax big time.
Assuming the Wizards will insist the Cavs take back 12 million of salary with at least 3 years left (why would they trade for someone with more of a contract left) the likely pieces coming back to us would be some combo of Haywood/Songalia/Deshawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels. I’m not sure we’re in a better off position with some of those guys then the status quo.
Maybe it’s a 3 team deal but the same obstacles exist.
The only plausible team that could take on Hughes would be the Knicks. Marbury for Hughes straight up.
Ben said
LeBron has said he’d never play with Marbury, so scratch that.
I would do Hughes for Haywood and Daniels in a heartbeat.
irreverend fox said
if a team offered NOTHING in return I would make the trade.
josh said
But a team can’t offer nothing in return — of course the Cavs would trade Hughes for nothing but cap space.
RockKing said
I think this story is little more than local spin. I refuse to believe that any team out there would seriously consider taking Hughes off the Cavs’ hands. With the NBA trade guidelines, the Cavs have to take on equal salary in return, so that means they need to trade Hughes for around $12 million in salary. Well, no team is going to trade a good player for Hughes, which means that pretty much the only option is for the Cavs to take on 2 or 3 horrible contracts in exchange for Hughes. I don’t really see the point in doing that unless they were expiring contracts, and if they are expiring contracts, the other team isn’t trading them for 2 more years of Hughes. I generally think Branson Wright is a pretty decent writer, but that story was a bunch of BS.
ShaneRollins said
Thought everyone would enjoy this
http://likeseriouslywtf.blogspot.com/2007/12/huge-rumor.html
dave . . . said
where’s jim paxson when you need him??? he was the master at dumping salary. i still can’t believe he was able to trade shawn kemp. can danny ferry do the same with larry hughes??? we can only hope.
dave . . . said
oh and take _amon _ones out with you too.