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Cavaliers face Raptors with trade deadline looming

Feb 18, 2009 - 11:31 AM Cleveland (40-11) at Toronto (21-34) 7:00 p.m. EST

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors are both looking forward to Thursday's trading deadline. The Raptors just don't know whether they'll be buyers or sellers.

The Cavaliers will be assessing their current roster when they take on the Raptors on Wednesday.

Cleveland features LeBron James, who is - at the very least - one of the two best players in the NBA, and point guard Mo Williams, who made the Eastern Conference All-Star team and is averaging 17.6 points per game.

Where the Cavaliers need to improve might be in the middle, where Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas don't provide the athleticism to compliment James and Williams on the perimeter.

Cleveland could use Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract as bait and has been rumored to be in the mix for Amare Stoudemire.

The Raptors already made one move, sending Jermaine O'Neal to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks over the weekend.

While Marion's expiring contract could be enticing to the team if it chooses to give up on the season and rebuild, Toronto remains in contention for a playoff spot in the wide-open East and could still decide to add pieces and make a run.

The Cavaliers have won both meetings between the teams this season, with James averaging 32 points.