As the Cavaliers look to unload some of their expensive veterans, they have informed teams that they will take on long-term salary in exchange for other assets, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
With LeBron James gone and the playoffs seemingly out of reach, Cleveland has no interest in holding onto large contracts that will keep the organization near the luxury tax. The Cavs have already informally parted ways with J.R. Smith as they search for a taker for his $14.72MM salary, and several other players could be moved before the February 7 trade deadline.
Kyle Korver, who remains a dangerous 3-point shooter at age 37, should attract the most attention, according to Windhorst. Korver is shooting 46% from beyond the arc and is averaging 6.8 PPG. He is making $7.56MM with a $7.5MM salary for next season that won’t be guaranteed until July.
George Hill, who makes $19MM this season but only has a $1MM guarantee on his $18MM salary for 2019/20, will also be in demand, Windhorst adds. Hill is sidelined with a shoulder injury, but put up good numbers before being hurt. Channing Frye, who makes a modest $1.5MM but has only appeared in three games, is another candidate to go.
Windhorst notes that owner Dan Gilbert conducted a similar selloff when James left the team in 2010. The assets he collected in that process enabled him to bring in Kevin Love and some other valuable pieces when James returned four years later.
Do not trade for Fultz
Agreed. Stop drafting kids that don’t know how to play or at least don’t know how to shoot. Lolol
He could shoot in college that’s the thing he just couldn’t figure it out once he got to the nba
It’s a lot easier to shoot when you are trailing in nearly every game like in college. That’s why it is a bad mistake to take guys that cant win in college that high.
He knows how to set-up direct deposit. That’s all he wanted.
So you’re saying this is on purpose
Charlotte should really be looking into this.
Nicolas Batum and a couple of picks for George Hill.
There are only 3 players this really speaks to:
John Wall. Andrew Wiggins. Nic Batum.
So Sexton + JR Smith’s partially guaranteed for John Wall.
George Hill for Nic Batum.
There are a few others I could see fitting in.
Gordon Hayward
Dennis Schroder
James Johnson
Kelly Olynyk
Evan Fournier
Otto Porter
Gorgei Dieng
Joe Ingles
There’s a lot of long term bad money floating around the league. Some worse than others, but if the Cavs want some of it, I’m sure they can find some takers.
I don’t think Hayward, Ingles, and Schroder are on the trade table at all. Hayward is still recovering. Ingles and Schroder has played major minutes for their contending teams.
I don’t think any of those contracts are great, but none of them are really bad.
When I think of bad, I think of players who aren’t productive AND who tie up cap space beyond next season.
A guy who ties up space next year isn’t that bad, because you got a bunch of other guys you got to pay next year anyways. Those useless guys can have luxury tax implications, but that is usually only a concern for teams that haven’t managed their cap space at all, and/or expected to win and are struggling. Like the Wizards, who are paying the tax AND playing poorly.
Dieng is the only player on that list a team is actively trying to dump. The rest are major contributors.
The story didn’t say the Cavs were only interested in taking on long term money for unproductive non-contributors.
I don’t know if salaries match in the trade for Wall. But I don’t think Cleveland even makes that trade. Cavs wouldn’t want Wall and his drama.
And they’d have no interest in trading Sexton to get him either
They would take Wall over Sexton. They need a draw. Also the money does work.
And they should take Porter over Wall.
Sexton isn’t moving. The ego of the FO is tied up in Sexton. They sacrificed to get him. It was a mistake to do so but there he is.
(They should have traded the pick for Walker, or someone good for last year.)
Sounds like the Wizards can unload Wall on Cleveland, for a price.
Other than Wall, there isn’t a lot of bad long term money out there. Love might be the next worst contract in the league, followed by Nance. Most of the big money is going to decent young players who haven’t hit their ceiling (like LaVine in Chicago), or true all-stars like Harden, Paul George, etc.
Nances contract isnt terrible. Thompsons is worse, Loves is worse. The only thing Cavs cant give up is the 2019 or 2020 pick.
I think the Cavs are trying to get ahead of the market with this, as they should. The market for dumping contracts has been a strong buyer market since 2016, but I expect will return closer to normal starting this summer, as the worst of the 2016 contracts reach expiring status, and there are more teams with significant available cap space. When JR’s 2016 contract is being talked about as an “asset” due to minimal guaranteed money after this year, you know a reset is in the works.
Smith, Hill, &Korver all have essentially expiring contracts, due to the small guaranteed figure for next year. But Smith’s contract goes beyond that. It’s complicated, but it offers a quick way to open up even more capspace.
Cavs also know they wont draw a legit FA. Wizards are their best trade partner to land a legit player.
That’s my point. An essentially expiring contract (or even a fully expiring one) is usable as an asset only if the team in question is willing to take on a multi-year deal in return. Few teams were over the past couple of years. Most salary dumps the last few years have been “of” expiring deals using the acquiring team’s cap space, not of long term deals using the acquiring team’s expiring deals.
Anyone else feel bad for Dekker? We know he is going to get traded, again.
who’s next, dumping both tristan and jr smith could be tricky
JR is easy to dump, only a partially guaranteed contract. They didn’t dump Korver, they traded him for a pair of picks and an expiring contract they can still trade at the deadline.