Amar’e Stoudemire Six Potential Landing Spots After Buyout

Feb 6, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) watches as the Indiana Pacers shoot free throws at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Cleveland 103-99. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers

This would be a coming of full circle of sorts, as Stoudemire looked to be on his way to Cleveland at the trade deadline in 2010, but owner Dan Gilbert was not comfortable trading away J.J. Hickson as part of the package for Stoudemire, instead settling on Antawn Jamison. We all know how that turned out, as the Cavaliers were bounced from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference semifinals and LeBron James took his talents to South Beach later in the summer. Stoudemire signed with the Knicks on a max-contract, and the two of them finally coming together on James’ second go round with the Cavaliers would be some poetic justice.

The Cavaliers already traded their first round pick in Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love, so at least there wouldn’t need to be a repeat of a decision made by Gilbert to bring Stoudemire in; he would just need to clear a roster spot. This time around smart money would be on Gilbert bringing Stoudemire onboard.

Stoudemire would give the Cavaliers a scoring punch off the bench they are currently lacking with J.R. Smith in the starting lineup. Speaking of Smith, the Cavaliers have two of Stoudemire’s former Knicks teammates, Smith and Iman Shumpert, currently in the fold from a three-team trade earlier in the season, so there will be a level of comfortability on the Cavaliers most players that are waived do not receive.

The Cavaliers lost Anderson Varejao for the season a couple of weeks ago, and bringing in Stoudemire would help offset that loss some. He would bring a much needed offensive upgrade to the bench that Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson just do not offer.

Next: Dallas Mavericks