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Cleveland:  Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair
Los Angeles Clippers:  Drew Gooden
Washington: Zydrunas Ilgasukas, Al Thornton, Brian Skinner, 1st round pick (from CLE)

In the biggest deal so far this trading season, the Cavaliers got LeBron James another sidekick by acquiring Antawn Jamison from the Wizards.  The kicker here is that the team didn’t even have to give up J.J. Hickson to do it.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas goes to Washington, but the Cavs operate better with Varejao at center so this loss of Big Z is immaterial (except in Nike puppet commercials). 

The trade bumps up Cleveland’s projected record to a tidy 63-19 for the season and the projected leader for homecourt throughout the playoffs (+1.8 percent per game).  This ends any talk of Amare to the Cavs.  One reason why GM Danny Ferry would prefer this trade is the ability to keep Hickson in the fold.  Jamison also might be a better fit at power forward in a small(er) lineup with Varejao and James in the frontcourt.  Jamison is also a very low turnover guy, and is known as a good team player.  He won’t upset the nice balance the Cavs are cultivated thus far this season.  One question Cleveland will have to answer is the glut they have now at power forward.  Hickson, Varejao, Jamison and the soon-to-return Leon Powe will be fighting it out for minutes.  Also, if the Cavs don’t win the title, they will have to wonder forever if Amare would have gotten them across the finish line.

Washington is in full-scale sell mode shedding every salary they can.  The team needs to rebuild completely starting through the draft.  Even if the pick they pick-up from Cleveland is low, it is still a valuable asset.  Every loss this season also means more ping-pong balls in the John Wall lottery.

The Clippers had nothing to gain (personnel-wise) by becoming a part of this deal.  They did it to clear enough salary space to create a max-salary slot for this upcoming season.  Drew Gooden is probably going to be waived, so the projected impact of this trade for this season on the Clippers is immaterial.  What it does do is clear Thornton and Telfair from the books leaving Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin and Chris Kaman on the roster for 2010-11.  DeAndre Jordan has a team option that will probably be exercised.  I wonder who is available that would fit at the small forward spot and will be a free agent?  Hmmm….