George Hill Goes to Milwaukee, Dellavedova Comes Back to Cleveland, and Sam Dekker Lands in DC

Three Eastern Conference rivals are currently finishing all the details considering the trade they arranged earlier today. The Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, agreed on exchanging players.

Cavs Collecting Draft Picks

According to various sources, Bucks are sending Matthew Dellavedova who already played for the Cavs, and John Henson to Ohio, along with first and second round picks from the 2021 draft. George Hill will go in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the Cavs are trading Sam Dekker to Washington for Jason Smith and a future second-round pick.

Milwaukee is sending Dellavedova, John Henson and a first-round and future second-round pick to Cavs for George Hill, league source tells ESPN. https://t.co/L5vWlxdj8M

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

This deal comes after something more than a quarter of the season passed, and it clearly suggests that the Cavs are clearing their space for the next season, and some potential blockbusting deals. They are at the bottom of the standings and are probably tanking the season to get a high position in the next draft, who will be loaded with game-changing players.

At the moment, Cleveland got four future picks over the previous 10 days.

Meanwhile, the Bucks want to make their backcourt rotation even stronger. Eric Bledsoe is more of a shoot-first, pass-later kind of point guard, while Hill is an old-fashion playmaker who does have solid attacking abilities, but tends to be more defensive minded and rational in the offensive part of the game. His arrival will allow Bledsoe to play some parts of the game as a shooting guard, and that will make Bucks even more lethal.

This season he averages 10.8 points with .514 percent from the field. His three-point shooting is .464 and that is something Bucks want to exploit. They would also like to use $18 million which are now free after they got rid of Dellavedova and Henson who have $10 million each.

Dellavedova Back in Ohio

The Australian already played for the Cavs, and was a part of their rotation in two big Finals, winning the ring in 2016. A year before, he was a starting point guard in the first matchup against the Warriors, because of Kyrie Irving’s injury. He didn’t play too much this season, as he had issues with his ankle. In 12 appearances on the court, he posted only 1.7 points and 2.4 assists, which too low for a player of his caliber. He is projected to be the backup for young Colin Sexton.

Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals. Kyrie, out. Dellavedova, Unforgettable.#BeTheFight #DellyTime pic.twitter.com/HP0FFWgqRB

— Everything Cleveland (@everythingcle_) December 7, 2018

John Henson also had many problems with injuries. His right wrist ligaments were torn, and the 6-11 forward had to undergo surgery. Henson’s numbers up to that point were below the career averages, and he scored 5.6 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds per night. He won’t be playing before the late season, that is for sure.

Sam Dekker hoped to settle in Milwaukee. The former Badger, who is also born in Wisconsin, ended up in a totally different direction, Washington. He too has health problems and had played only 9 games so far. The statistic he posted wasn’t anything special, 6.3 point and 3.7 rebounds in somewhat less than 19 minutes.

The Wizards are also preparing for the upcoming trade period. It seems that they are about to make some radical changes in their roster, and the biggest one might be the departure of John Wall. Washington isn’t playing as planned this season, and having in mind their eliminations in the first round of the playoffs two years in a row, changes are expected.

We are waiting to see their magnitude.