Anderson Varejao: Cavaliers’ Extension in the Works?
By Evan Massey
The Cleveland Cavaliers are heading into a season where they expect to compete for a championship, and they have put together all of the piece to do just that. LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving are ready to lead the team forward, but there are plenty of role players that will have important jobs to do as well.
One of those important role players is big man Anderson Varejao, who is one of the only true centers currently on the Cavaliers’ roster. At the age of 32, he is still one of the more energetic big men in the game, and will provide the Cavaliers with top-notch rebounding and hard-nosed defense. He isn’t on the level of Joakim Noah, but he brings the same type of energy to the court.
According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Cavaliers have been in “serious” contract negotiations with Varejao about a new contract extension.
"The Cleveland Cavaliers are engaged in serious talks with center Anderson Varejao on a contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.Talks have progressed in recent weeks, but there’s no agreement imminent, sources said.Varejao, 32, could become an unrestricted free agent in July 2015. Nevertheless, he and Cavaliers officials have a mutual desire to reach an agreement in the near future and continue a 10-year partnership."
Take a look at Varejao’s statistics from last season with the Cavaliers:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/27/2014.
James and Varejao have been good friends since their first period playing together, and that is one of the reasons that LeBron returned to Cleveland. Keeping Varejao on the roster is important for locker room purposes, and he is a very contagious energy player. He will be asked to step up in a big way and help defend the paint, and rebound the ball at a high level alongside of Love in the front-court.
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There have been no reports as to what type of contract the two sides are talking about, but both sides are going to be fair with each other. Cleveland doesn’t have a ton of money to work with for a new deal with Varejao, but keeping him around past this season is definitely a big part of their plans.
Expect to see these two sides figure something out and agree to a new deal that will keep Varejao in town past this season.