Veteran point guard Ricky Rubio gave up $5.4MM in his buyout agreement with the Cavaliers, according to reports from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Keith Smith of Spotrac, and Bobby Marks of ESPN (all Twitter links).
That’s a significant portion of the remaining guaranteed money that was owed to Rubio, who initially had a salary of $6,146,342 for 2023/24 and a $4,250,000 partial guarantee for ’24/25 (his full cap hit for next season would have been $6,439,025).
While Rubio had earned a prorated portion of this season’s salary, he was still owed about $3.5MM in 2023/24, along with his $4.25MM guarantee for next season, for a total of $7.75MM. He’ll receive approximately $2.35MM of that total, but the Cavaliers will recoup the rest, giving the team some extra cap flexibility this season and next.
As Marks notes, Rubio’s new cap hit this season is approximately $3.7MM and he’ll be on Cleveland’s books for about $1.3MM in ’24/25. The Cavaliers’ team salary this season had been about $752K below the luxury tax line prior to the buyout, but that cushion has increased to approximately $3.2MM, Marks adds.
That extra flexibility puts the Cavs in position to immediately sign one or two players to their roster to fill out their 15-man squad. Now that the 10-day contract window has opened, Cleveland may opt for short-term additions for now, maintaining some roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline, but the team technically has enough breathing room below the tax to add two minimum-salary players for the rest of the season.
Since teams are only permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time, Cleveland will have to make at least one roster addition by January 18, two weeks after officially parting ways with Rubio.
Lakers sign Rubio – make Lebron more shoot and better passer for AD assusts
He’s retiring you bot.
thank you, Tonto!
Convert CPJ, sign or trade for an actual backup center (Damian Jones is a wasted roster spot). Give CPJ’s two-way minutes to Isaiah Mobley. Do it, Cavs.
I’m not a huge believer in Isaiah, but give him a try. And/or show Sharife Cooper some appreciation by giving him a two-way spot
They should convert Craig and sign Malik fitts (PF) or Aleem ford (C) (both former nba players) to two way deals. Damian jones needs to be traded for future second even if they need to give up one bc they need another roster spot since he never even plays. Wouldn’t be surprised if they make a huge trade involving Caris or Allen at deadlinw
What was Rubios incentive in any of this? You don’t need a buyout to retire. So why didn’t he just… retire?
It’s a pretty selfless move, so maybe he just wanted to do them a favor for standing by him. Who knows, but if that’s the case then good for him. It wouldn’t really benefit him in any other way anyway.
Sign Kevin Porter Jr lol
After his legalities are concluded in a month or two, the league will suspend him. At the end of that, someone will sign him.