Breaking News/Live Thread: Delly Returns!/Cavs vs. Kings (#I’mComin’Home)

Delly is coming home. pic.twitter.com/JsIHM0tJfi

— • (@CleFanForLife) December 7, 2018

Welcome back, NBA Champion, Matthew Dellavedova! In true Woj-bomb fashion, it was announced in a series of Tweets that the Cavs have traded George Hill and Sam Dekker to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Delly, John Henson, and the Bucks first and second round picks in 2021.

Here’s the sequence…

Milwaukee is finalizing a deal to send guard Matthew Dellavedova to Cleveland, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

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

Milwaukee picks to Cleveland — the first and second rounders — are in 2021. https://t.co/8IHfECJaAr

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

Cleveland is also trading Sam Dekker in the deal to Milwaukee, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

Milwaukee will save $18M in salary in the 2019-20 season with the trade, which allows them flexibility to continue to upgrade roster. Cavaliers continue show a willingness to take on money to gather draft picks.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

For Cavaliers and Bucks, there was an urgency to a get deal done by 6 PM ET today. Now the players in the deal are eligible to be aggregated on the Feb. 7 trade deadline. Essentially, they can combine these players with other contracts to move before the deadline.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 7, 2018

The Cavs basically remedied the mistake they made of not signing the Australian to an affordable deal, and instead let him walk away in free agency after the Championship of 2016. They also get Henson, who is currently out with a hand injury and not expected back until late in the season. Aside from Delly and Henson, the Cavs also acquired two valuable future picks.

Hill, who was not in the long term plans for Cleveland, was shooting a career high 51% from the field and 46% from three, but struggled with injury this season. Only $1 million of Hill’s $18 million salary for next season is guaranteed, and the Bucks will save $18 million in salary in the 2019-20 season with the trade. Dekker, though younger, was more of a reclamation project for the Cavs, and was also out for an extended time due to injury.

Dellavedova should, if nothing else, provide a steady presence defensively to help out on the perimeter and give rookie Collin Sexton some support. Both Delly and Henson’s contracts run through 2020.

Meanwhile, the Cavs take on the surprisingly decent Sacramento Kings tonight at the Q. The Kings sport a record over .500 (12-11) in December for the first time since 2014. We’ll see if prized rookie, Marvin Bagley, Jr., plays after sitting out the last two games with back spasms.

With the departure of Hill (Dekker was already ruled out for tonight with his sprained ankle), the Cavs will be once again short on bodies (David Nwaba is also still out, along with Kevin Love). Hopefully, though, with the pending return of a champion, they’ll rise up to depose the Kings.

Prediction: Cavs prevail 112-109 over the visiting Kings.

Catch all the action starting at 7:30 on FSO. And, as always, chime in below with all of your Delly takes…