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CLEVELAND – The Cavaliers filled their biggest hole.
Desperate for a rim-protecting center, the Cavs agreed to trade two future first-round draft picks to the Denver Nuggets for big man Timofey Mozgov, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The Cavs had targeted the 7-foot-1 Mozgov for several months and came to an agreement in principle, the person said on condition of anonymity because the NBA still has to approve the trade. Cleveland will send a first-round pick they got in 2013 in a trade with Denver and a first-rounder acquired from Oklahoma City earlier this week.
With starting center Anderson Varejao out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, the Cavs needed a front-line scorer and defender to complement forwards Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson.
Mozgov played for Cavs’ head coach David Blatt on the Russian national team, winning a bronze medal together at the 2012 London Olympics. He’s averaged 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds in 35 games for the Nuggets.
Blatt did not comment on the proposed deal before the Cavs, who have dropped seven of nine and are playing without superstar LeBron James, lost to the Houston Rockets. James has been out a week with a strained back and knee.
The deal for Mozgov comes two days after the Cavs acquired guards Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith from the New York Knicks in a three-way deal that sent guard Dion Waiters to the Thunder. Smith will give the Cavs a scorer off the bench, and Shumpert is a strong defender, who Blatt described as “willing” to take on the opponent’s top scorer.
