The Cleveland Cavaliers is planning to send Iman Shumpert and Mo Williams to the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire Ricky Rubio, as the defending champions are reportedly searching for a reliable backup point guard, the latest NBA trade rumors suggested.

Cleveland is aiming to repeat as NBA champions this season and the club knows that to do that, they will have to limit Kyrie Irving's minutes during the regular season.

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Since Matthew Dellavedova joined the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason, Irving's backups right now are Williams, who is sidelined by injury and is on the verge of retirement, and rookie Kay Felder, both of whom are considered not reliable enough to start during games when Irving will be rested.

Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue experimented during the preseason with Shumpert starting at the number one guard spot, but it did not turn out well and so the former Georgia Tech standout is back as JR Smith's reliever at the shooting guard position.

Rumors swirled that the Cavs are also intending to dump Williams' salary by trading him together with either Shumpert or Jordan McRae, but there are still no takers at the moment.

Sportsrageous noted that a Williams-Shumpert package will more likely land Cleveland the starter-quality backup point guard that they want.

The report also mentioned that Minnesota is interested in getting Shumpert and "have inquired about his availability in the past few weeks" to solve their defensive issues on the wings. The Wolves is said to be willing to part ways with Rubio if needed as it got the "impression Cleveland is ready to talk."

However, Bleacher Report indicated that Cleveland is not "actively working the phones" to trade Shumpert right now and would like to continue Lue's experiment of using him as a point guard in some stretches during games.

Rubio is currently out indefinitely with a sprained elbow so it could be the reason why the Cavs suddenly backpedaled with the talks, according to the most recent NBA trade rumors. The 26-year-old Spaniard does not need surgery to fix his injury but team doctors were still unable to give a specific timeline for his return.

TagsNBA Trade Rumors, NBA Trade Rumors 2016, Iman Shumpert, mo williams, cleveland cavaliers, Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves