The Cavaliers will fully guarantee Cedi Osman‘s $6,718,842 salary for the 2023/24 season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Osman’s contract called for that full amount to remain non-guaranteed until June 29, so if the Cavs had wanted to avoid being on the hook for that money, they could’ve waived him today. According to Wojnarowski, Cleveland won’t take that route.
[RELATED: Early NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For 2023/24]
Osman, 28, saw his role reduced a little in 2022/23 — the 20.1 minutes per game he averaged this past season represented his lowest mark since his rookie year in 2017/18. He put up 8.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per night across 77 appearances, with a shooting line of .451/.372/.694.
Waiving Osman’s wouldn’t have put the Cavaliers in position to create meaningful cap room or generated necessary breathing room below the tax, so it’s no surprise that the team decided to retain him. Even if the 6’7″ forward isn’t in Cleveland’s long-term plans, his expiring salary could be useful for salary-matching purposes in a trade later this offseason or during the ’23/24 season.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the Cavs are currently $37.5MM below the projected luxury tax line, which should give them the flexibility to re-sign Caris LeVert and to use the full $12.4MM mid-level exception while staying out of tax territory.
Osman is on track for unrestricted free agency in 2024 if he doesn’t sign an extension before then.
Cleveland should trade Caris and a pick to Spurs for Keldon Johnson
Spurs have the right of to request that
Trade Okoro and Bates for Keldon Johnson
We might as well offer Osman to the Lakers for LeBron James.
Gotta keep Osman. That’s his friend. He has been here the whole time
I think you missed my point
You don’t understand sarcasm
Osman could handle small Forward if JB will let him. I am more concerned that we are not planning to upgrade Isaiah Mobley to a standard contract. We desperately need a full time back up to Evan & Jarrett. One that has Isaiah’s skills is outside our price range. Having big Brother on a standard deal would allow us to use him in all 82 games instead of 50. Yet JB is too caautious to see what Isaiah can do.
I don’t know that I’d trust Cedi as a full-time starter. He’s a good shooter and can score when he gets into a grove, but I don’t trust his defense or decision making. He can guard shooters, but he tends to get burned by guys trying to drive past him and can’t really match up on anyone stronger than him.
Also, he had weirdly terrible chemistry with Garland and Mitchell last season? Like, shoots below 30% from 3 when they pass it to him. And that was a repeat of how it went with Garland last year. Very weird.
Agreed on Isaiah Mobley, though. He can absolutely play in the NBA right now. I just think the Cavs are trying to get a backup big in FA, since they were hoping for Naz Reid.
I think Cedi is at his best in a running game, heading downhill. In other words, he’d be better on a different team.