From McMenamin:
ATLANTA -- In a surprise move with less than a week to go before the playoffs begin, the
Cleveland Cavaliers made yet another tweak to the back end of their roster, waiving guard
DeAndre Liggins, the team announced Sunday.
The timing of the decision, with just three games remaining in the regular season, was motivated by two factors, according to general manager David Griffin: creating a roster spot which the Cavs intend to fill by Wednesday’s deadline to add a player and have him be playoff eligible, and giving Liggins a chance to be claimed off waivers by another team before the regular season closes and have his current contract on their books for next year.
The question is what direction the Cavs will go with to find their 15th man. Will it be depth in the front court with
Tristan Thompson set to miss his third consecutive game Sunday with a sprained right thumb? Will it be another point guard to back up
Kyrie Irving in case his left knee continues to act up, as it did this past Friday against Atlanta, as further insurance alongside
Deron Williams who has underwhelmed thus far? Would it be another wing player, adding to the glut of swingmen they already have coming off the bench in
Richard Jefferson,
Iman Shumpert,
Kyle Korver,
Derrick Williams and
James Jones?
There are plenty of names that could be considered, from former Cavs
Anderson Varejao and
Dahntay Jones (who was signed on the final day of the regular season last year and went on to make spot contributions in the playoffs), to a former
Miami Heat teammate of
LeBron James in Mario Chalmers.
A team source indicated to ESPN the Cavs had not settled on a final name yet, however they would be more likely to target someone who has played recently.
What is certain is that Liggins’ fate, which the guard learned Sunday morning at the team hotel after making the trip to Atlanta with the Cavs on Saturday, typifies the rocky season the defending champions have had.
Liggins, with season averages of 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game, actually started 19 games after
J.R. Smith injured his thumb and gave the Cavs’ defense a boost as he guarded opposing point guards to free up Irving to conserve some energy for the offensive end.
“Liggs gave us a lot,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “I think when J.R. went down we inserted him into the starting lineup to change our defense to get Kyrie off the ball and to pick up full court, be aggressive defensively -- he was really good for us. Hopefully he gets a chance to go somewhere else and get an opportunity to play.”
