Cavs Mulling Amnesty Claim Of Mike Miller

6:28pm: The Cavs have decided to delay their official signing of Andrew Bynum, and that's tied to their pursuit of Miller, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Cavs have postponed Thursday's scheduled signing, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of the The Plain Dealer originally reported, and that's so they can preserve the cap space necessary to make a bid on Miller, according to Windhorst (Twitter link). If Cleveland submits the winning bid for Miller, the team would waive non-guaranteed players to re-open space for Bynum's deal, as Windhorst explains via Twitter

5:10pm: The Cavs are strongly considering claiming Mike Miller off amnesty waivers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Heat used the amnesty clause yesterday to rid themselves of the two years and $12.8MM remaining on his contract. The Cavs, and any other NBA team with cap space, can place a partial bid on that amount. If there are multiple bids, Miller's rights would go to whichever team bid the highest.

Miller, 33, would become a free agent if no team claims him. With the Clippers and Rockets already linked to the 13-year veteran sharpshooter, an amnesty claim might represent the Cavs' best chance to get him. 

There have been reports indicating the Cavs are out of cap room, so if they're accurate, the team will have to waive some of its non-guaranteed players to make a bid on Miller. The Cavs can eliminate as much as much as $4,120,814 from their books by waiving C.J. Miles, Chris Quinn and Kevin Jones. They're not allowed to make a trade to open up cap space under the rules of the amnesty provision.

Miller is a friend of former Heat teammate LeBron James, as Wojnarowski notes. The Cavs are gearing up for a run at James next summer, when the four-time MVP can opt out his contract with the Heat, so perhaps that's one of the factors the team is considering as it thinks about claiming Miller.

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