Sources: Grizz trade sheds payroll
Updated: January 22, 2013, 9:21 AM ET
By Brian Windhorst | ESPN.com
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The Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to a multiplayer trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, slicing more than $6 million off their payroll to get under the luxury tax threshold, league sources told ESPN.com.
A trade call to finalize the deal is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Grizzlies would send big man Marreese Speights, guard Wayne Ellington and guard Josh Selby to the Cavs for big man Jon Leuer. There are also believed to be a future draft pick involved in the deal.
Reducing payroll both short- and long-term has been a goal of the new Grizzlies ownership and led to other trade talks involving Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph over the past several weeks.
Speights averages 6.5 points and 4.7 rebounds as a key big man off the bench for the Grizzlies but makes $4.2 million this season and has a player option at $4.5 million for next season. The Grizzlies owe Gay, Randolph and Marc Gasol nearly $50 million alone next year.
Ellington is averaging 5.5 points in 40 games off the bench.
The Cavs were able to make the deal because they had more than $10 million in cap space in which to absorb Speights. That would likely mean the Grizzlies would receive a trade exception of more than $6 million that would be good for a year.
Selby has only played in 10 games this season, averaging two points. Leuer has played in nine games, averaging 2.4 points.