I'd take Waiters but I wouldn't give up much for him. He's probably going to follow the Evan Turner career track and start to bloom into a serviceable 6th man in this 3rd season. The question is whether or not he's a knucklehead and honestly I'm not sure. Roy spoke to that. Add in that he's had some knee issues and he's probably worth an expiring deal and a heavily protected pick. I think there are way more worthwhile guys to chase after though. I think the most I'd be willing to give up is AB, and only because he's going to get paid in the off-season. If their contracts were at the same stage I'd keep AB.
I am intrigued by the idea of Deng though. I'd like to see him as a C for his last big contract but I'd prefer it to be in the $12M/yr range. What I'd offer is this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=kzsm23f
That gives the Cavs their SF of the future on a reasonable deal and some cap relief in Bogans. It moves Deng who will likely walk for nothing in the off-season. Turning Andrew Bynum's corpse in to Jeff Green isn't exactly a bad move from a GM standpoint. Hopefully we can convince Deng to sign long-term for 5yrs/$60M. If not we just move on from the Green signing and make room for the SF we're going to draft.
The problem will be that Cleveland doesn't want Green as their SF of the future. They want to chase LBJ in the off-season and Green would not only muck up their cap situation but also he plays the same position. I suspect Cleveland tries to woo LBJ and if that fails they offer a bloated contract to Deng. Spoiler alert, they end up with neither and start Clark or Gee next season!
If we want Deng over Green, we can just go after him in free agency.
No need to trade Green and have Deng leave and get nothing in return for Green.
If Deng signs we can either work a sign and trade with Cleveland which relieves us of Green's contract or we can move Green in a separate deal and get extra value.
The only incentives to trade for a free-agent-to be are:
1. If you need him to contend (and we aren't contenders)
2. You gain an advantage in free agency since you can go to 5 years.
However, going to 5 years is only an advantage if you plan to offer that. If you don't offer that and don't offer max years, it might even be held against you.
Deng is 28 but has played a lot of minutes in his career. There are some who think his high mileage may hurt his longevity. I don't think it's wise to offer him 5 years.
So, even if they want Deng (and I'm not sold that they should), it is much preferable, IMHO, to wait until the offseason.