Aussies in NBA: Could Dellavedova be headed to Rip City?

No progress on the talks between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Matthew Dellavedova have been reported recently. Meanwhile, an interesting contender has supposedly entered the conversation.

Meet the Portland Trail Blazers.

A photo posted by Nikola Vukotic (@vndsgn) on Jul 24, 2015 at 3:58pm PDT

According to Jabraan Altaf of Cavs Sports Talk, the Blazers are keen on his services, and are apparently prepared to offer a contract soon. The Trail Blazers have plenty of space left on their salary cap, and could definitely use Dellavedova's defensive abilities.

This rumour has not been seen anywhere else, but should this be true, it would change the Cleveland situation entirely. Dellavedova's restricted free agent status would require the Cavaliers to match the deal to keep him, and likely sink them deeper into luxury tax - not an ideal situation.

The Cavaliers' top priority is to retain Tristan Thompson, and this has not been completed as yet. Brendan Haywood's non-guaranteed contract could free some wriggle room up for the team, but unfortunately remains in limbo as Cleveland tries to find a suitable trade partner.

The pieces are still in the air, and all of these could very well affect Dellavedova's final deal, or even whether he remains with Cleveland.