The Cleveland Cavaliers struck another deal on Wednesday night, acquiring Timofey Mozgov in a trade with the Denver Nuggets, which ended their five-month pursuit of the Russian center.

The deal to acquire Mozgov came just two days after the Cavaliers acquired Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith in a three-team deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder and New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers, who have been trying to convince the Nuggets to part ways with Mozgov since July, sent two protected first round picks to finally acquire the 28-year-old center.

The Nuggets received the first-round pick acquired by the Cavaliers from the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013 and the first-rounder Cleveland took from the Thunder in the recent three-team deal.

According to Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Nuggets will get the Grizzlies' first-round if it falls to picks 6-14 in the next two drafts and if it falls outside of the top five in 2017 or 2018. On the other hand, the Thunder pick is top-18 protected in 2015 and top-15 protected in 2016 and 2017.

The Cavaliers, who are currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with their 19-17 record, have been looking for a rim protector since the offseason. Aside from Mozgov, the Cavaliers also tried to strike a deal to acquire Kosta Koufos, but the Memphis Grizzlies declined to trade their backup center.

"It was a deal that we worked on for quite some time," Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said via ESPN. "We're very excited about this. It fits our needs."

Mozgov, who is averaging 8.5 points to go along with 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this season, will be reunited with Cavaliers coach David Blatt, who coached the fifth-year center on the Russian national team that took the Bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics.

LeBron James, who is recovering from knee and back strain, also gave his approval to the deal, saying Mozgov will be a huge boost to their frontline, especially after losing Anderson Varejao to a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.

"It's something that we need," James said. "It's something that once Andy went down, it was something obviously we needed to get bigger in the interior and adding a guy like that who can protect the rim, it will help our team as well. So, we'll see."

For the latest sports news, follow Latin Post Sports on Twitter.

FOR MORE NBA UPDATES, TRADE AND FREE AGENCY NEWS, CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VISIT LATIN POST.COM'S SPORTS PAGE.

Related