The Cavaliers will enter free agency Wednesday with a hammer and tool belt, only this time they’re not trying to rebuild the roster. They’re erecting a fence to keep everyone in.
The main objective with July 1 arriving is figuring a way to keep the nucleus of a team that advanced to the NBA Finals intact. It’s going to cost owner Dan Gilbert millions — in fact, the most he has ever spent.
The Cavs have six free agents this month: LeBron James, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert. Thompson, Dellavedova and Shumpert were extended qualifying offers by the team on Tuesday, making them restricted free agents and allowing the Cavs the opportunity to match any offers they receive in free agency.
The top priority, however, will be Love. The Cavs met with Kyrie Irving the first minute they were allowed to offer him an extension last year and Gilbert announced the new deal on Twitter less than two hours later. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Cavs take the same strategy with Love, who can agree to a five-year extension worth more than $100 million beginning Wednesday.
Love spent time recently with James in Los Angeles and the photo proof quickly went viral. Locking up Love to a long-term deal would be another triumph for a franchise that surrendered a war chest of assets to get him last summer, then fought rumors of his imminent departure throughout the season.
If Love bypasses next season’s salary-cap explosion and instead locks in now long term, the Cavs would have both he and Kyrie Irving under team control until at least the summer of 2019 (Irving can opt out of the final year of his new five-year deal). Then there is James, who could continue to sign one-year deals for the foreseeable future, but isn’t expected to leave anytime soon.
The Cavs acquired Shumpert from the New York Knicks in January knowing he was seeking an extension that would pay him about $10 million annually. The Knicks had no interest in paying it and were willing to move him. Thompson reportedly rejected an extension last fall that would pay him $13 million annually. Now he’ll likely sign for even more after his glowing postseason performance following Love’s shoulder injury.
If the Cavs retain all of their own free agents, their salary and taxes for next season could approach $200 million. It’s believed only two teams in league history have surpassed $100 million in payroll in one season — the Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets. The Cavs will soon join the list.
Dellavedova and Smith would seem the most questionable of the free agents to return. Amazingly, Dellavedova’s jersey ranked 14th in merchandise sales from April to June, finishing just three spots behind the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant. But the Cavs spent most of the winter trying to upgrade the backup point guard position and likely will acquire at least one other point guard this summer.
Dellavedova’s return might be predicated on the type of offer he may receive in free agency and whether the Cavs are willing to match it.
The Cavs also have Brendan Haywood’s non-guaranteed contract worth $10.5 million to begin shopping now that July has arrived. One report out of San Antonio on Tuesday indicated the Cavs and San Antonio Spurs had discussed a deal involving Haywood’s contract — a move that made sense on the surface given the Spurs’ aggressive pursuit of free agent power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
But one source with knowledge of trade talks, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of trade discussions, said a deal involving the Cavs and Spurs was “never discussed.”
One player who certainly will be back next season is Mike Miller, who exercised his player option for next season that will pay him nearly $3 million.