Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired All-
Star forward Luol Deng from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Andrew Bynum and
three future draft picks.
The deal was announced early Tuesday morning.
The Cavs also sent the Bulls the Sacramento Kings' first-round draft pick from
a previous deal, the right for Chicago to swap its own 2015 first-round draft
pick with Cleveland's, and Portland's 2015 and 2016 second-round draft picks
acquired from the Trail Blazers in a 2013 draft-night trade.
"We are very excited for Luol to join the Cavaliers organization," said
Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant. "We have worked to acquire and maintain
flexibility in order to capitalize on opportunities such as this.
"Luol reflects all that we are striving for in building our team. He's a
tremendous defensive player that can impact the game on both ends of the court
with a team first mentality and is a high character leader."
Deng, a two-time All-Star, averaged 19.0 points and 6.9 rebounds over 23 games
for the Bulls this season. Over 637 career games, he has averaged 16.1 points
and 6.4 rebounds.
Bynum was suspended indefinitely with pay by the Cavs on Dec. 28 for conduct
detrimental to the team.
He has played in just 24 games since his breakout campaign in 2011-12 when he
averaged 18.7 points and 11.4 boards. Since then, the 7-footer has scored just
8.4 points and pulled down 5.3 rebounds per contest, all this season.