If the Cavaliers resolve their contractual differences with restricted free agent Collin Sexton, it will likely impact another player on a guaranteed contract, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes in his latest mailbag. Adding Sexton would put the team one over the 15-man roster limit.
The Cavaliers would prefer not waive Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade, who are on non-guaranteed deals. Instead, the team would likely look to move either Cedi Osman and Dylan Windler, perhaps in a trade with an asset or two attached to a team like Indiana or San Antonio, who have cap space.
We have more from the Central Division:
- DeMar DeRozan felt the Bulls weren’t “ready for adversity” last season when injuries piled up, he told Draymond Green on his podcast (hat tip to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). “We kind of fell apart. We lost ourselves obviously through health,” he said. “Regardless, I think I told one of the young guys after All-Star break, I said this is the moment when you see what teams are serious. He didn’t know what I meant by that. For us to hit the wall that we hit showed that we wasn’t ready for adversity.”
- During the same podcast, DeRozan spoke of how criticism aimed at the Bulls for engineering a sign-and-trade with San Antonio fueled his highly productive season. He averaged a career-high 27.9 PPG. “My whole career has kind of been based off that (criticism). But I never let it bring me completely down. It knocked me down. But I got back up,” he said. “And for me, that moment of going to Chicago, I just told myself, ‘This is a new opportunity. I’m going to make the most out of it in every type of way.’”
- The Bucks had plenty of other options with their taxpayer mid-level exception. So why did they choose Joe Ingles, who is recovering from a torn ACL? According to Eric Nehm of The Athletic, they felt Ingles was the most complete player available to them.
