Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavaliers Finalizing Deal With David Nwaba

August 1st, 2018 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have agreed to sign free agent swingman David Nwaba, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). According to Charania and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), Nwaba and the Cavs are still in the process of finalizing the details of the deal.

A former undrafted free agent, Nwaba had a solid season for the Bulls in 2017/18, averaging 7.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG while playing strong perimeter defense in 70 games (21 starts). He opened the month of July as a restricted free agent, but when Chicago made a series of cost-cutting moves to create the cap room necessary to sign Jabari Parker, rescinding Nwaba’s qualifying offer was one of those moves.

After Nwaba became an unrestricted free agent, Vardon reported that there was mutual interest between the 25-year-old and the Cavaliers. Nwaba also reportedly drew interest from the Lakers and Spurs, and Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that there was “lots of dialogue” with the Timberwolves, but Cleveland was aggressive in its pursuit.

According to Charania (via Twitter), the Cavs were in touch with Nwaba from the very first day of free agency and recruited him hard, meeting last week with the Los Angeles native.

While the terms of Nwaba’s deal with the Cavs aren’t yet known, the team has plenty of options for what it could have offered. Cleveland is over the cap, but still has its full mid-level and bi-annual exceptions available.

Nwaba will only be the 12th Cavaliers player on a fully guaranteed contract for 2018/19, though the club also has decisions to make on Rodney Hood‘s restricted free agency and Okaro White‘s non-guaranteed salary. With approximately $108MM in guaranteed money on their books before signing Nwaba or accounting for Hood or White, the Cavs will have one eye on the $123.73MM tax line as they fill out their roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rockets Remain In Market For Wing Player

August 1st, 2018 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets are poised to finalize a deal with Carmelo Anthony after he clears waivers later today, but signing Anthony won’t necessarily complete Houston’s offseason. As ESPN’s Zach Lowe details in a recent podcast conversation with Chris Herring of FiveThirtyEight, the Rockets remain in the market for at least one more wing player.

“They are going to get another wing,” Lowe said of the Rockets. “It’s going to happen.”

The Rockets lost two key forwards last month when Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute signed with new teams in free agency. Despite re-signing Gerald Green, adding James Ennis, and lining up a deal with Anthony, Houston could use another player with the ability to make threes on offense and guard talented perimeter players on defense.

Earlier this week, we heard that Houston has interest in Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore — Lowe and Herring discuss that possibility, with the ESPN analyst suggesting that the Rockets would likely offer Atlanta a package of Ryan Anderson and their 2019 first-round pick. However, the Hawks aren’t the only team the Rockets are keeping an eye on.

According to Lowe, the Rockets have also talked to the Heat. While Lowe doesn’t identify any specific Miami players that Houston is targeting, he speculates that perhaps the Rockets would be willing to offer that same package of Anderson and a pick for someone like Tyler Johnson.

The Rockets have also “kicked the tires” on Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith, per Lowe. At $14.72MM, Smith has a smaller 2018/19 salary than players like Bazemore and Johnson, so the Cavaliers wouldn’t be able to trade him straight up for Anderson ($20.42MM) and a pick. Smith also only has a modest partial guarantee on his 2019/20 salary, making his contract much more palatable than Anderson’s. That could complicate any trade discussions between the two teams.

Although Lowe doesn’t go into more details on any other trade talks the Rockets might be having, there are a handful of other players around the NBA who would be logical targets as Houston dangles Anderson and a draft pick. Nicolas Batum, DeMarre Carroll, Marvin Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and Courtney Lee are other wings who make between $12-24MM in 2018/19 and are under contract for multiple seasons, though some players in that group are more realistic trade candidates than others.

Contract Talks Between Cavs, Hood Have Stalled

July 30th, 2018 at 1:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Contract talks between the Cavaliers and restricted free agent Rodney Hood have stalled for the time being, a source familiar with the negotiations tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). According to Schultz, Hood seems to be seeking a short-term deal that he feels is “fair,” but the Cavs have yet to put an offer on the table that he deems acceptable.

The Cavaliers appear to have earmarked a roster spot and a portion of team salary below the luxury-tax threshold for Hood, but have been unable to find common ground with one of the last two restricted free agents on the market. A recent report indicated that Cleveland is interested in re-signing Hood to a three-year deal — it’s not clear if that would work for the 25-year-old or if he’s seeking an even shorter term in order to return to free agency sooner.

Hood’s leverage is limited due to the lack of viable suitors left for him around the NBA. The Kings are the only team with significant cap room still available, but Sacramento has 15 players on guaranteed contracts and seems unlikely to make a play for the Cavs swingman at this point.

Hood can’t even realistically seek an offer sheet worth the full mid-level exception, since only two teams still hold that $8.641MM exception — one is the Cavs and one is the Jazz, who reportedly don’t have interest in a reunion with their former first-round pick.

The threat of signing his one-year, $3.47MM qualifying offer may help improve Hood’s position in negotiations, since he’ll be in line for a larger role in Cleveland in 2018/19 and could increase his stock in time for unrestricted free agency next summer. Still, taking that path would be a risk for Hood, since there’s no guarantee he’ll get better multiyear offers in 2019 than what the Cavs are offering now.

Upcoming NBA Salary Guarantee Dates To Watch

July 29th, 2018 at 7:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Over the last month or so, we’ve seen a number of players traded or waived before their salary guarantees for the 2018/19 season kicked in. Players who sign contracts that feature non-guaranteed salaries in future years often have June or July trigger dates, forcing teams to make decisions fairly early in the offseason — that way, if the player is waived, he’ll still have the opportunity to catch on with a new club well before the new season begins.

We’ve been tracking those decisions using our list of guarantee dates for the summer of 2018. While most of those deadlines are now in the rear-view mirror, a few teams will have decisions to make within the next week.

Here’s a quick rundown of the decision dates to watch this week:

Brandon Jennings (Bucks): $2,222,803 salary becomes guaranteed after August 1.

Jennings’ salary was initially set to become guaranteed if he remained under contract through July 1, and there were reports at the start of the month suggesting he believed that would happen. Instead, the Bucks pushed back his guarantee date until the start of August, giving the team time to assess whether it needed the veteran guard on the roster once it was done making other offseason moves.

The Bucks recently agreed to add Pat Connaughton to their backcourt and haven’t been able to trade Matthew Dellavedova this summer, which may not bode well for Jennings’ roster spot. Even if Milwaukee decides to cut him though, Jennings could return on a new minimum-salary contract at some point — his current deal calls for a $2.22MM cap hit, but the Bucks could give him the same salary on a new one-year contract with a $1.51MM cap charge.

Brandon Paul (Spurs): $1,378,242 salary becomes guaranteed after August 1.

The Spurs tend not to throw in the towel early on developmental projects, preferring to give them time to ease their way into larger roles. Paul only averaged 9.0 minutes per contest last season, but he appeared in 64 games, signaling that San Antonio had enough confidence in him to continue giving him NBA minutes rather than hiding away in the G League. That’s a positive sign for Paul as decision day approaches.

Abdel Nader (Thunder): $1,378,242 salary becomes guaranteed after August 1. Already partially guaranteed for $450,000.

The Thunder went out of their way to acquire Nader from the Celtics in a trade last week even though the young wing already has a partial guarantee of $450K. Oklahoma City’s luxury-tax issues are well documented and the club wouldn’t have traded for him if it didn’t intend to keep him, so Nader looks like a virtual lock to have his full salary guaranteed.

Okaro White (Cavaliers): $1,544,951 salary becomes partially guaranteed for $772,476 after August 5.

White, who missed a good chunk of the 2017/18 season with a broken foot, talked earlier this month about how he’s still working to mentally get over that injury. He was physically healthy enough to play for the Cavaliers‘ Summer League team, but his performance in Las Vegas was a mixed bag. He showed off his energy and rebounding ability with 7.4 RPG in 23.9 minutes per contest, but struggled to put the ball in the basket, averaging just 6.0 PPG on 33.3% shooting.

The Cavs have roster spots to spare and could stick with White, but if they’re still unsure about his place on the roster, they’ll likely waive him by next Sunday to avoid guaranteeing half his salary for 2018/19.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Contract Details: Bolden, Carter, Harrell, Smart

July 29th, 2018 at 10:21am CST by Arthur Hill

Sixers forward Jonah Bolden has received the largest contract of any rookie second-round pick this summer, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 36th player taken in the 2017 draft, Bolden spent a season with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel before coming to the NBA. Philadelphia gave him a four-year, $7MM deal with a starting salary of $1.69MM, although the third and fourth seasons are non-guaranteed.

The Nets signed Rodions Kurucs to a similar arrangement, Pincus adds (Twitter link). The 40th pick in this year’s draft, Kurucs will make $1.62MM in his first year and has incentives that could bring the value of his four-year contract up to $6.96MM. The first three seasons are fully guaranteed.

Pincus passes on a few more details about deals signed this summer:

Although Jevon Carter was taken 32nd overall, he signed for just the minimum salary over two seasons, less than others in his draft range (Twitter link). However, he received a full guarantee from the Grizzlies on both years. Jalen Brunson, taken at No. 33 by the Mavericks, makes more per season but is locked into a four-year deal (Twitter link). He will receive $1.23MM in his rookie year, with minimum salaries for the next three seasons. The first three years are fully guaranteed. Elie Okobo, the 31st pick, signed a four-year agreement with the Suns that will pay him $1.24MM in his first year, with three seasons at the minimum to follow. Only his first two years are guaranteed, and Phoenix has a team option on the final season (Twitter link).
Among the two-way contracts handed out this summer, only four players signed multi-year deals. Kostas Antetokounmpo of the Mavericks, Billy Preston of the Cavaliers, Yuta Watanabe of the Grizzlies and Thomas Welsh of the Nuggets all have two-year agreements (Twitter link).
The Clippers will pay Montrezl Harrell $6MM in each season of his two-year, $12MM deal (Twitter link).
Celtics guard Marcus Smart has a base salary of $11.16MM in the first year of his new deal, but $500K of likely incentives place the cap hit at $11.66MM. The incentives remain in effect for each season of his four-year contract.

Cavs Hoping To Sign Hood To Three-Year Deal?

July 26th, 2018 at 2:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers are believed to be interested in signing Rodney Hood to a three-year contract, writes Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. However, it’s not out of the question that Hood signs his qualifying offer with an eye on unrestricted free agency in 2019. Pluto also passes along some notes on Kevin Love‘s extension and Cleveland’s projected rotation in his latest Scribbles column.

Cavaliers Notes: Love, Nance, Veterans

July 24th, 2018 at 10:53pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Love expressed his desire to stay in Cleveland during his exit interview with the team following the NBA Finals, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports. The power forward also reiterated his desire to stay once the news of LeBron James leaving town broke — during both interactions, he discussed his interest in a long-term deal.

Love inked a four-year extension with the Cavaliers worth an additional $120MM. As part of the arrangement, the big man declined his player option for the 2019/20 season, which is the first season the new pact will kick in.

Here some notes and reactions on the deal signed by Cleveland’s newest face of the franchise:

The Love signing suggests that the Cavaliers have no interest in a full teardown, Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated writes. Outside of rookie deals, Love is the only guaranteed contract on the books past the 2019/20 campaign.
Cleveland is reportedly interested in giving both Larry Nance Jr. and Rodney Hood new deals, Woo adds. Nance has one season at roughly $2.27MM left on his current deal. Hood is a restricted free agent, though he hasn’t had much interest this offseason after a shaky start to his Cavs career.
The belief around the league was that the Cavaliers were going to move their high-priced veterans, but it became clear early on that the franchise wasn’t going to find takers for many of its players, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. The scribe adds that Cleveland remains open to trades. However, after locking Love down long-term, there isn’t much urgency to move veterans.

Cavs Sign Kevin Love To Four-Year Extension

July 24th, 2018 at 10:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have insisted all offseason that they don’t intend to trade Kevin Love, and now they’ve doubled down on that position, locking up the All-Star forward to a long-term contract. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst, Love has signed a four-year, $120MM extension with the Cavs. The club has confirmed the deal in a press release.

“When I first came to Cleveland, I came with a long-term mindset,” Love said in a statement. “I came here to win. We developed a culture here that reflects that. I’m super excited and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a big commitment for me and it’s a big commitment from the Cavaliers, so I want to thank Dan Gilbert, Koby Altman and the entire organization. I enjoy playing here, I’m excited about the team that we have and look forward to our future together.”

As part of the agreement, Love has declined his player option for 2019/20, with the first year of his new deal replacing that option. Factoring in the final year of his current contract, which will pay him $24.12MM in 2018/19, the veteran big man is on track to earn nearly $145MM over the next five seasons. The extension won’t include a player option or a no-trade clause, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

Love, who joined the Cavaliers shortly after LeBron James returned to Cleveland in 2014, has averaged 17.1 PPG and 10.0 RPG during his four years with the franchise. Although he earned a pair of All-Star nods during those seasons, he was never the centerpiece of the Cavs’ offense the way he was in Minnesota, when he averaged 23.5 PPG and 13.7 RPG in his last four years with the Timberwolves.

The Cavs’ new deal for Love, which will run through 2023, looks like a bet on him recapturing his Wolves form – at least to some extent – now that he no longer has to take a back seat to James and Kyrie Irving. While an increasing salary cap will make the contract more manageable in future seasons, it’s still a significant investment in a player who will turn 30 in September and will be 34 by the end of the deal.

Following James’ departure from Cleveland earlier this month, the Cavs insisted both publicly and privately that trading Love wasn’t in their plans, though multiple reports suggested that he wasn’t untouchable either. Today’s move ensures that Love will remain a Cavalier for the foreseeable future — because his deal exceeds the limit for an extend-and-trade transaction, he can’t be dealt for the next six months.

An extension for Love can start at up to 120% of his 2018/19 salary, and according to Windhorst (Twitter link), it will do just that. Windhorst notes that the deal will be worth the maximum allowable amounts in the first two years before staying the same in the third year, then decreasing in the final year. It’s about $8-9MM less than Love’s maximum possible contract extension starting in ’19/20, adds Windhorst.

Based on my calculations, that structure should result in salaries of approximately $28.9MM (2019/20), $31.3MM (2020/21), $31.3MM (2021/22), and $28.9MM (2022/23).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Isaiah Thomas Reached Out To Celtics Before Signing With Nuggets

July 23rd, 2018 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

Before he officially signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Nuggets, Isaiah Thomas reached out to Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to see if a return to Boston might be possible, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Thomas, he and Ainge talked for about 15 or 20 minutes, with the point guard saying, “If the opportunity is there, I would just like to let you know that I’d love to come back.”

Ainge didn’t rule out the possibility of re-signing Thomas less than a year after trading him to Cleveland, but he and the Celtics needed to address Marcus Smart‘s contract situation before deciding whether a reunion with Thomas was in the cards. While Ainge was willing to continue the conversation, Thomas elected to sign with Denver before the C’s locked up Smart, closing the door on the possibility for now. Still, it sounds like Thomas would be open to heading back to Boston in the future if the opportunity arises.

“S–t, I’d have gone back,” Thomas says. “I don’t hold grudges.”

Here’s more on Thomas from Wojnarowski’s feature:

The Nuggets‘ offer was the only real one Thomas received in free agency, which he calls “disrespectful.” However, he believes that his health was a major deterrent for interested teams. “People are scared of my hip now,” Thomas said, per Wojnarowski. “I just had to be real with myself. I had to understand that it’s not going to be about the money this summer. I’ve got to show people that I can play — and play at a high level again. And I will.”
Thomas views his decision to play through his hip injury in the 2017 postseason as one that cost him in the long term. “If I didn’t play in the playoffs, I’d be OK,” Thomas said. “I’d be getting paid. I’d be who I am — who I was. But you couldn’t tell me in that moment in time — with everything I was going through — that, OK, I should just sit out. … I played until I literally couldn’t play anymore. And that was not a good business decision if I was looking in the long term, but I was looking in the ‘right now.’ That’s just what it was.”
Thomas also believes it was a mistake to get back on the court in January for the Cavaliers, suggesting he should have waited until after the All-Star break rather than rushing back early.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said he’ll welcome Thomas’ “voice and personality” into what has been a “quiet” locker room. “I want Isaiah to be Isaiah,” Malone said.
Thomas isn’t concerned about his specific role in Denver as long as he gets the opportunity to show that he’s healthy. “I’m not worried about starting or coming off the bench now,” Thomas said. “I’m worried about playing well and showing the world who I am again. Once the people see that I can play — and play at a high level still — they won’t be able to deny me next summer. They won’t be able to deny me what I bring on the court and off the court for an organization.”

Cavaliers, David Nwaba Have Mutual Interest

July 23rd, 2018 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers, who were linked to Luke Babbitt and Trevor Booker over the weekend, continue to explore the free agent market as they consider how to fill out their roster. According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, the club has spoken with free agent swingman David Nwaba, who has reciprocated the Cavs’ interest.

After opening the month as a restricted free agent, Nwaba had his qualifying offer rescinded by the Bulls on July 12. The 25-year-old reportedly drew interest from the Lakers, Spurs, and other teams upon becoming an unrestricted free agent, but he has yet find a new NBA home.

A former undrafted free agent, Nwaba had a solid season for the Bulls in 2017/18, averaging 7.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG while playing strong perimeter defense in 70 games (21 starts). He was considered a candidate to receive a solid multiyear deal in free agency this summer, but with roster spots and spending power dwindling around the league, it’s no longer clear what sort of payday Nwaba could realistically seek.

Nwaba would be an interesting target for the Cavs, who still have their full mid-level exception available and could use another strong defender in the wing. However, Cleveland’s cap situation remains uncertain as long as restricted free agent Rodney Hood stays unsigned.

Vardon indicated on Friday that the Cavs are still negotiating a possible deal with Hood. If he receives a starting salary in the $10-12MM range, it would put Cleveland’s team salary right up against the luxury-tax line. That would leave little flexibility to add any other players for more than the minimum — unless, of course, team owner Dan Gilbert is willing to go back into the tax for a roster that no longer features LeBron James. Trades or cuts could also create a little extra spending power below the tax line for the Cavs.