JULY 6: The trade is official, the Heat announced (via Twitter). As part of the deal, Miami will also swap second-round picks with the Spurs, with Miami receiving a 2027 selection and San Antonio receiving a 2026 pick. The Cavs are also sending cash to the Spurs.
JULY 1: The Cavaliers, Heat, and Spurs have agreed to a three-team deal that will land Max Strus in Cleveland via sign-and-trade, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Agent Mark Bartelstein tells Wojnarowski that Strus has agreed to a four-year, $63MM contract with the Cavs.
Miami will acquire a second-round pick and will create a trade exception in the deal, while San Antonio will receive Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and a second-round pick, according to Wojnarowski.
The second-rounder going to Miami is the Lakers’ 2026 pick, while the one headed to San Antonio is Cleveland’s 2030 selection, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Strus had been repeatedly mentioned as a top target for the Cavs in the days and hours leading up to free agency. A report on Thursday indicated Cleveland hoped its $12.4MM mid-level exception would be enough to land the 27-year-old, but with rumors suggesting his market was above the MLE, a report on Friday suggested the Cavs were looking into three-team sign-and-trade scenarios.
Right before free agency opened, Marc Stein reported that a scenario in which the Cavs sign-and-trade for Strus and use their mid-level exception to add Georges Niang appeared “increasingly likely.” Sure enough, Cleveland is poised to add both players, having reached an agreement with Niang on Friday night.
A former undrafted free agent who had brief stints in Boston and Chicago early in his career, Strus blossomed into a reliable rotation player in Miami during the last two seasons. In 148 games since the start of 2021/22, he has averaged 11.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .423/.376/.845. He moved ahead of Duncan Robinson in the Heat’s rotation during that time in large part due to his more stable presence on defense.
The Cavs had been on the lookout for a wing to complement starters Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley for the better part of the year. Strus should slot into that role nicely along with Caris LeVert, who also agreed to return to Cleveland.
In moving off Osman and Stevens in this trade, the Cavs should still be about $12.5MM below the luxury tax line with 10 players on the books, tweets Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype.
The Heat, who project to be a taxpayer in 2023/24, had been bracing for Strus’ departure, recognizing that they weren’t prepared to match his price on the open market. They reportedly didn’t want to take any salary back in a sign-and-trade and were able to achieve that goal. The traded player exception they generate as part of the transaction will be worth half of Strus’ first-year salary — based on the reported terms of his deal, that TPE should come in at about $7MM.
As for the Spurs, they entered the day with more leftover cap room than any other NBA team and will use a portion of it to add a second-round pick and two forwards who are on expiring contracts and who should be in the mix for rotation roles if they remain on San Antonio’s roster.
Osman, who will earn $6.7MM in 2023/24 before reaching unrestricted free agency, has been a rotation player in Cleveland for the last six seasons, averaging 9.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG with a .353 3PT% in 404 games (23.6 MPG) during that time.
Stevens, a solid defensive wing who doesn’t provide much on offense, has a $1.93MM non-guaranteed salary — some or all of that money will become guaranteed as part of this deal in order to satisfy the NBA’s salary-matching rules.
The Spurs will still have approximately $23-26MM in cap space available.
Should of traded Okoro and Bates instead of Osman to the Spurs
Why? Osman is very inconsistent and Stevens is a back ups back up!
Osman isn’t a great fit for our system. Plays better in a fast system while we’re the slowest in the NBA. And after Primo, I don’t know that the Spurs want another head case like Bates.
Uhmm did you see any spurs games last year..slow pace ..your still living in the past huh
San Antonio Spurs 2022-2023 Pace: 101.6 (1st of 30)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also, I was talking about the Cavs. I now realize that’s what you’re talking about. The Cavs have the slowest pace in the NBA.
Wtf is that stupid enoji
Google is your friend.
That is scoring total not pace. Pace is how many possessions per game.
I’m glad they kept Isaac Okoro because he’s solid off the bench. As the backup Small Forward. Max Strus will be the starting Small Forward and Caris LeVert the 6th man. Then Georges Niang going to be a nice piece as well that will backup Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Because he was here for the championship. Last one
Nice move Cavs, still need a backup Center
Bunch of dudes at the vet min available for backup duties.
We need a guy who can play both PF and Center spots while hopefully shooting above-average from 3. They way we often looked with one of Mobley or Allen off the floor was really painful last season.
Muscala
You guys already traded for Damian Jones. He checks both those boxes. Has experience as well.
Also need to decide on Garland’s backup. Imagine if (cross fingers) DG were to have an injury going into the playoffs. Do you trust that Rubio will step up? Can we do better than re-signing Neto?
In that case they probably just slide Mitchell to the point and play LeVert at the 2. We should sign one more PG, but a minimum guy like Shaq Harrison or Neto is fine.
Ty Jerome.
They have Rubio as the PG backup and Lever could slide over in that role or at SG.
Hmmm. Wondering if he’s a product of a good system and will he be effective with Cleveland. Not a terrible amount of money thrown at him here, but more than I’d have expected and enough to be a thorn for future moves. Reminds me of the Fournier signing.
I think some of these guys are gonna request not to be drafted in the future and just go to Miami for a few years and get paid.
Damn it. Stevens is such a good defender. Wish him the best in San Antonio.
I would suspect the Cavs go after Kelly Oubre Jr or Dillion Brooks next. They need another forward that can replace Osman.
They better effing not. Both of those guys are low efficiency losers. And Brooks is a fool. We already have Niang for extra fiery presence, which aside from defense is the only thing he provides.
Emotions aside, they’re the best Small Forwards available right now and they can get them for cheap. A second tier below those two that they can afford would be JaMychal Green, Darius Bazley, and Wenyen Gabriel. Maybe Dwight Powell if your lucky.
Jaden McDaniels, Torrey Craig, TJ Warren. Any of them are better than those two. And we can still dangle Okoro or Dean Wade in trades.
Dillion Brooks was 2nd all team defense last year. Say what you want about his attitude but to claim any of those players is better than him just isn’t correct
Better fit, better offense, better in the locker room, isn’t a head case. His defense is doing a lot of carrying.
Cavs have a lack of shooting already with Mobley and Allen as 2/5 of the starting 5. No need to bring in anyone else who can’t shoot. Our defense was strong last year. If anything we need a guard with size that can defend. Ok Okorro can at least see some time at SG or small ball SF and take a big guard on defense.
They absolutely do NOT need either of those limited offensive players and Brooks is a bafoon. Like someone suggested they should focus on a big with an outside shooting touch to complement Mobley and Allen. Unfortunately there’s not much in tens of available FA that can fill that need other than a Lopez obviously is going to be an expensive starter for someone.
I think they will go for a physical presence at center, maybe like Jock Landale, but that doesn’t usually come with good shooting. If they want shooting, I would seriously have a conversation about Meyers Leonard.
Brooks signed with Houston.
I expect Osman and Stevens to both do very well in S.A. There will be times when we will miss them.
Good get by Cavs. I think they can go far in playoffs this season
I expected $68 million, but good for him. Super happy for Strus. He earned it. I knew he would get paid a couple of years ago. Plays the 3/4/2, defends more than adequately, is in most of the right spots, put the ball on the floor as an attacker, moves well without the ball/strong backdoor cutter, shoots it extremely well, can play above the rim as well. I expect him to still surprise some people
Heat brought in summer league guys, clearly looking to potentially replace Strus. Richardson helps there as well. Going to really miss this dude b/c he was a Heat player the first time I saw him in summer league for the Celtics and Bulls, and he was a really strong fit for our roster that if the rules were a bit different, may have not been let go
As I’ve said though, Heat culture is about letting these guys go and get paid, and show everyone what they are now, with what they’ve added to their game, and you’re always part of Heat nation. Heat fans always remember their guys, and Max Strus is one of them
That is a team that matches up well with the Heat, in my opinion, so I could be nervous about big shots he might hit against us
I’m somewhat disappointed, I don’t know how to call it exactly, that both him and Vincent are going to contenders, especially in the East – I guess you can call Cavs like that. Or rather contenders to beat the Heat. So if he’s playing the same or better, he shows that he’s worth the money, and beating Heat would be disappointed, I guess? But still, good for this guy.
Caris and Bates and a 2nd for Keldon Johnson
I’m wrting this as a Heat fan that LOVES Max Strus…… this contract is as bad as Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng going to the lakers in 2016. Max is amazing and will out perform what they did for the Lakers.. but he just became untradeable and overpaid by almost 10 million a year. I hope he stays healthy and doesn’t become a Chandler Parsons, but they’re paying a sold bench player 16 mill a season. For contrast.. Caleb Martin (a better player) is making 3/20 from the Heat.
That’s a lot of money for a guy who completely disappeared in the Finals.
The Brooks hate is hilarious