Lee Nailon and Stephen Graham: Follow the Bouncing Players

Okay, time for some NBA musical chairs. On Thursday, the Cavs acquired forward Lee Nailon from the Philadelphia 76ers. They got Philly's second round pick, and sent a conditional second round pick to the 76ers in exchange. Are you with me so far? Good. Here's where things get interesting.

In order to make room on their roster for Nailon, they waived Stephen Graham (see the last paragraph of this story), whom they previously had been signed to a second 10-day contract on Monday. Then, yesterday, the Cavs waived Nailon, and re-signed Graham for the remainder of the season.

Why did they go through these gyrations? Everyone knew money was a factor in the deal, but it turns out that the entire transaction was motivated by the 76ers' desire to reduce their payroll and avoid issues under the NBA's luxury tax system. In light of the Cavs' decision to cut Nailon loose right away, my guess is that the condition in the conditional pick wasn't Nailon's playing time with the Cavs, but where the two teams finish the regular season. If the Sixers finish with a better record than the Cavaliers, they probably get nothing. On the other hand, as this article points out, by sending him to the Cavs, the Sixers avoid having Nailon's $835,000 salary count against the team's tax threshold of $61.7 million.

None of this high-finance helped the Cavs last night, as they went down in flames to the Wizards, 102-94.

Nailon hasn't played since he was arrested in January for allegedly smacking around his wife. I'm sure that's all just a terrible misunderstanding, but his release now frees Nailon to devote all of his efforts to clearing his name. If he has time, perhaps he can join O.J. in the hunt for the real killers.