Cleveland Cavaliers: Can They Keep Kevin Love And Tristan Thompson?
The Cap Situation
The only players on the Cavs whose contracts are definitively set in stone for the upcoming 2015-16 season are Kyrie Irving ($14.7 million), Anderson Varejao ($9.6 million) and Joe Harris ($845,059). The fact that Love and Thompson’s contracts need to be dealt with is just the tip of the iceberg.
J.R. Smith has a $6.3 million player option and Mike Miller has a $2.8 million player option. Matthew Dellavedova ($1.1 million qualifying offer) and Iman Shumpert ($3.9 million qualifying offer) both become restricted free agents this summer. Shawn Marion is set to retire after this season and the contracts of Kendrick Perkins and James Jones come off the books as well. Timofey Mozgov has a $4.9 million team option.
Hell, even LeBron James has a $21.5 million player option this summer. It’d be surprising for him to opt out and restructure his deal now since he can re-ante next summer as the salary cap explodes to a projected $89 million, but the point still stands: players are going to have to make sacrifices this summer in order to keep a championship contender intact.
CLE made it to the Finals without Kevin Love, Anderson Varajeo. Impressive how others have stepped up.
— David J. Smith (@davidjsmith1232) May 28, 2015
It starts with Love, who would be eligible for a five-year, $108 million max extension if he opts out. Love has said he doesn’t plan on opting out, but that course would be foolish since he has a history of injuries. Not only that, but Love could make far more money by opting out; next year, Love’s max salary would be a little more than $19 million.
Even if he wants to rejoin free agency in 2016 or 2017 to maximize his revenue during the salary cap boom, he still could opt out this summer and re-sign on a one-year max deal worth around $19 million (rather than his current $16.7 million) or a two-year deal with a player option for the second year.
Love’s desire to stay in Cleveland long-term is commendable, but by deciding to opt in, he’d be shorting himself about $2.3 million for virtually no reason.
Seems like a no-brainer for Kevin Love to at least do a 1+1 deal to stay with the Cavs seeing how easy the Finals path is in the East.
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 27, 2015
As for Thompson, restricted free agency is a bit harder to predict, but the bottom line is he’ll be heading for a big payday after turning down a four-year, $52 million extension before the season (and LeBron’s recent comments about Thompson deserving to be a Cavalier for life).
Every player here has proved his worth. It starts with Thompson and Love, but guys like Smith, Shumpert and even Dellavedova have found their niche during Cleveland’s run to the Finals. The cap for next season is projected to be $67.1 million, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for rounding out the roster if Smith opts out and feels entitled to a pay increase.
Everyone has mentioned the money Tristan Thompson, Jimmy Butler, and DeMarre Carroll have made themselves. What about J.R. Smith?
— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) May 27, 2015
The same goes for Shumpert and Delly, who could be pursued by another team as restricted free agents. The Cavs are on the verge of creating a San Antonio Spurs-like environment where players are willing to take a pay cut in order to touch greatness and chase championships, but the lingering taste from these Finals could play a part in everyone’s willingness to return.
And even if they don’t, a lot of financial question marks need to be addressed before we can have a proper understanding of what this team will look like next season. Entering the luxury tax will be the price of chasing titles, but it might not be so bad with the cap shooting through the ceiling over the next three years.
Next: The Fit