Cavs show interest in Andray Blatche

Via Ryan Corazza and Nick Borges of ESPN...

UPDATE No. 2: According to Bob Finnan of the News-Herald, the Cavs have inquired about Blatche.

Many on Cleveland's roster could be moved by the trade deadline -- there's a market for guys like Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson and Daniel Gibson -- so there's a range of possibles the Cavs could offer the Wizards in return if talks get more serious.

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UPDATE: Michael Lee of the Washington Post reported on this Wednesday, and notes that two Western Conference executives have indicated to him that McGee is "not yet" available.

"JaVale seems very not available," one of the executives said, according to Lee.

Lee did confirm via these executives that the Wizards have indeed gauged interest on Blatche.

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Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee were suspended for Sunday's game against San Antonio due to their altercation outside a club early last Friday morning. Now word comes that the Wizards are shopping both players.

According to Alex Kennedy of HOOPSWORLD, the team will gauge the interest of Blatche and McGee from around the league and then decide whether to make a deal.

Blatche's contract was restructured in the offseason. He has four years and roughly $29.82 million remaining on his deal after this season. McGee's rookie-scale contract expires after next season when he'll make about $2.46 million.

Blatche became a big time scorer for the Wizards last season after the suspension to Gilbert Arenas (21.1 ppg in Feb, 20.5 ppg in Mar, 21.5 ppg in April) and is currently averaging a career high 16.4 ppg this season.  Blatche also hits the boards, averaging over 8 this season.  However, Blatche has also been a headache for the Wizards at times, with his dust up with coach Flip Saunders last season and his altercation with JaVale McGee recently so any team making a deal for him also gets his baggage.   It will be interesting to see who the Cavs might dangle.  Do they include J.J. Hickson and basically give up on him for their future.  Varejao could possibly be the most interesting chip, but with the Wizards in rebuilding mode, would they want to commit to a guy whose under contract until the 2013-14 season for $25.2 million (team option for 2014-15 at $9.8 million) and whose specialty is rebounding and doing the dirty work?  Maybe a contending playoff team would want to take a look at Varejao, but not too sure about a rebuilding team.