JULY 18: The Cavaliers have officially announced their new deal with Osman, issuing a press release to confirm the signing.
JULY 12: The Cavaliers have agreed to sign draft-and-stash prospect Cedi Osman to a three-year contract worth $8.3MM, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN (Twitter link). Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today adds (via Twitter) that there are no options in the deal.
Osman’s contract, which was first reported by Turkish outlet beIN Sports, will be finalized using a portion of the Cavaliers’ mid-level exception. With no cap room available, Cleveland had the ability to sign Osman using either the MLE or the minimum salary exception. The mid-level will allow the club to give him more than two years and more than the minimum salary.
A 22-year-old wing, Osman was the 31st overall pick in the 2015 draft but has remained overseas since then, playing for Anadolu Efes in Istanbul. In 2016/17, Osman was the club’s leading scorer in Turkish League play, averaging 13.4 PPG and shooting 38.7% on three-pointers in 34 games.
While it remains to be seen whether Osman will be able to contribute immediately in Cleveland, his arrival provides a much-needed injection of youth to an aging Cavaliers roster. With only the $5.192MM taxpayer mid-level exception available to add free agents, few valuable trade chips in hand, and no 2017 draft picks, the Cavs’ ability to add young talent this offseason was very limited.
Of course, while Osman’s new deal looks modest on the surface, the Cavs’ tax position makes it exponentially more expensive. As a repeater taxpaying team that’s already way over the tax threshold, the Cavs would pay more than $4.25 per dollar in tax penalties on Osman’s 2017/18 salary, as things stand.
Current projections have the Cavs on the hook for a $70MM+ tax bill and more than $210MM+ in total salary and taxes, per Bobby Marks of ESPN. The club could reduce its projected tax bill by dumping salary at some point, but that won’t be easy.
It’s also worth noting that the Cavs will contribute about $700K to Osman’s international buyout, according to Windhorst. Teams are permitted to pay up to $675K to a player’s international buyout this season without it counting against the cap (or having to pay tax on that contribution), so Cleveland likely chipped in that amount.
Osman is actually a pretty good player. Watched some film and he’s a pretty versatile, young, athletic wing that Cleveland needs. I don’t know if this really moves the needle for this team. Need much more depth and defense. They really overrated Thompson’s importance to this team and it’s crippled the cap flexibility.
Even without Thompson’s contract the Cavs would still be over the cap. So he isn’t actually hurting their flexibilty. It’s more like, would they rather have Thompson or not have him and have no one to replace his minutes. There are definitely worse contracts on this team than Thompson’s
Even though they need JR Smith and Shumpert right now, Thompson, Frye, and those guys were the guys they needed to find a way to move this offseason in money for money type of deals, and they obviously couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. But pretty much, those 4 deals are currently hurting them in their ability to make changes/get better
*They* basically meaning LeBron. IIRC, he pushed for Cleveland to give Thompson that big deal.
I’ve heard and seen some good things about him defensively, so let’s see how that translates. They really need that. That being said, their only assets were his rights and their 2021 1st round pick. My guess is that the bold/creative stuff that was pretty much their only option for making changes and getting better was too risky for them, or they just couldn’t get a trade together involving that much money going out and coming back
If he can make plays, create his own shot, and play solid D this is a W.
Better than “almost making a trade”.