Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

LeBron James Re-Signs With Cavs

July 10th, 2015 at 1:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

1Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

1:26pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

“LeBron’s re-signing today is a reflection and continuation of his strong, personal commitment to help deliver championships to Northeast Ohio and Cavs fans everywhere,” GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “We share this deep level of commitment with him. His impact upon this team, his community and the game are impossible to overstate and we look forward to continuing on our mission together.”

FRIDAY, 12:10pm: James signed this morning, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a formal announcement.

THURSDAY, 12:01pm: Agent Rich Paul notified the Cavaliers that client LeBron James will sign with them on the first day he can in free agency, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That would indicate that James will sign today. It’s no great surprise, unlike last year, as James has been likely to stay with Cleveland, though the timing of the move, which comes before an agreement between the Cavs and fellow Paul client Tristan Thompson, is somewhat unexpected. It’s a two-year deal with a player option, Broussard adds in a second tweet, with salary figures that indicate it’ll be a max contract. That’s the very sort of arrangement that Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote months ago that James was likely to sign.

James, 30, turned in another stellar season in 2014/15, averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.4 APG, 6.0 RPG, and a 25.9 PER. This past campaign might not have been James’ career-best, but he was nothing short of dominant overall. After cruising to his eleventh consecutive All-Star selection, James put on a heroic effort in the postseason. Even after losing Kevin Love to a shoulder injury in their first round battle with the Celtics and Kyrie Irving to a knee injury in the Finals, LeBron kept his Cavs afloat into a hard-fought championship series against the Warriors.

LeBron and his squad experienced some road bumps in 2014/15, including an up-and-down start to the year and apparent friction between first-year coach David Blatt and core players. Ultimately, however, LeBron will continue to push to see things through in Cleveland as he promised to do this time last year. Of course, it also helps that James appears to have far more control over personnel moves now than he did in Miami.

There was never much question as to whether LeBron would re-sign with Cleveland, but the Cavs are surely breathing a sigh of relief now that they have word of his return.

Cavs Sign Mo Williams

July 10th, 2015 at 11:39am CST by Dana Gauruder

FRIDAY, 11:39am: The deal is official, the team announced.

“We’re very excited to welcome Mo back to Cleveland and we feel he will be a great fit with our team,” GM David Griffin said. “Mo is a proven, high-caliber playmaker and his ability to space the floor at either guard position will be essential for us.”

MONDAY, 8:40am: Point guard Mo Williams has reached an agreement with the Cavaliers, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets. It’s a two-year, $4.3MM contract that includes a player option, league sources told Wojnarowski. Williams had also considered offers from the Spurs, Mavericks and Pelicans, Wojnarowski adds in a separate tweet. (Twitter links).

Williams, who played for the Hornets during the second half of last season, will provide insurance behind Kyrie Irving. The agreement will not deter the Cavaliers from trying to re-sign Matthew Dellavedova, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.

A report last week indicated a deal between the Grizzlies and Williams was close but it was later denied. The Cavs had their $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level to spend. They will have $1.3MM of it left over, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com tweets.

The 32-year-old Williams, who began last season with the Timberwolves, gives Cleveland scoring punch off the bench and could also start if Irving’s kneecap injury does not heal in time for the start of the regular season. Williams averaged 17.2 points and 6.0 assists in 27 games with the Hornets.

Kevin Love Re-Signs With Cavs

July 9th, 2015 at 3:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:22pm: The Cavaliers have released a formal announcement regarding Love’s deal.

3:12pm: The Cavs still haven’t made any formal announcement, but a message with emojis on the team’s Twitter account indicates that Love has signed.

JULY 9TH, 10:07am: The Cavs have yet to make a formal announcement, but Love said in video for The Players’ Tribune that his contract is “inked and official,” as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group transcribes.

9:35pm: Love’s deal includes a player option for the fifth year, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports (Twitter link).

JULY 1ST, 1:32pm: Kevin Love will re-sign with the Cavaliers, as he says in a self-authored piece on The Players’ Tribune. Love has long insisted that he would remain with Cleveland, in spite of plenty of stories indicating that he would look elsewhere, and a meeting he apparently had planned with the Lakers. It’ll be a five-year deal for about $110MM, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, in what appears to be a long-term commitment at the max.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

“Yeah, of course I’ve heard the free agency rumors,” Love wrote. “But at the end of the day, and after meeting with my teammates (it turns out pools are great meeting places) and with the front office, it was clear Cleveland was the place for me. We’re all on the same page and we’re all in. We have unfinished business and now it’s time to get back to work.”

Love’s revelation brings to a close months of back-and-forth as rumors that Love would leave Cleveland continually surfaced and Love consistently denied them. The power forward did change his mind about declining his player option, as he said in January that he planned to opt in, but opting out was always the more financially sensible proposition, since the max will almost certainly entail more money for this coming season than he would have made on the option, worth only about $16.744MM.

The Lakers and Celtics were most often connected to him, but the Rockets and Blazers were also identified as teams with interest in recent days, and indeed, he seemingly remains a sought-after commodity around the league even in the wake of a down season that ended with a shoulder injury in the first round of the playoffs. He struggled to mesh with LeBron James both on and off the court, but James apparently still wanted him to stay.

Cavs Re-Sign Iman Shumpert

July 9th, 2015 at 1:04pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

JULY 9TH, 1:04pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

“Iman is a versatile, two-way player who embodies much of the grit, determination and defense-first mentality our group became identified by,” GM David Griffin said. “He is evolving as a playmaker on both ends and his impact on our group was enormous throughout our Finals run.”

JULY 1ST, 6:34pm: The Cavaliers and restricted free agent Iman Shumpert have agreed to a new contract, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). The deal will be for four years and $40MM, and the final season will include a player option, Kennedy relays. The Lakers, Raptors, Bucks, and Mavericks were all interested in the defensive specialist’s services.

Shumpert was acquired at midseason by the Cavaliers along with J.R. Smith, who opted out of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. It’s unclear if Shumpert’s deal will mean that Smith is destined to play elsewhere in 2015/16, though LeBron James reportedly wants the Cavs to re-sign the guard, so one has to wonder if that could outweigh the team’s reservations about Smith.

The 25-year-old played well for the Cavaliers last season, appearing in 38 games, though only one as a starter. Shumpert notched averages of 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists, along with a slash line of .410/.338/.667.

Central Notes: Smith, Bulls, Johnson

July 8th, 2015 at 9:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavaliers are still interested in re-signing unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith, who has not met with any other teams yet, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report tweets. Smith is reportedly seeking a three-year commitment on his next deal after opting out of his contract for 2015/16. Cleveland has also explored dealing for Nets veteran Joe Johnson, who could fill the scoring void that would be left by Smith’s departure, but those talks are considered dead for the time being.

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

The Bulls announced that Randy Brown and Charlie Henry have been hired as assistant coaches, and that Mike Wilhelm will be retained as an assistant coach on Fred Hoiberg’s coaching staff.
Some eyebrows were raised when the Pistons selected Stanley Johnson in this year’s NBA Draft with Justise Winslow still available, but the rookie is showing during Summer League play that he’s ready for the NBA, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders writes. It’s Johnson’s toughness that has stood out, a trait that the forward believes led to Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy taking him, Brigham notes. “I don’t think Stan would draft somebody that’s soft,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to let anybody punk me on the court just because I’m 19 years old and new to this. You’re not going to disrespect me. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff. I’ve had some stupid fouls, and I’ve got to get better at that. But I’m going to get my respect, especially in the Summer League.”
The Pistons will miss more than just Greg Monroe‘s on court production according to point guard Reggie Jackson, Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. “He was like a big brother to me,” Jackson said. “And he was a role model also. We are going to miss what he brings to the table, and we wish him the best with the Bucks.” Monroe has agreed to a three-year, maximum salary deal with Milwaukee.

Atlantic Notes: Saric, Kaun, Jason Smith, Carroll

July 8th, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers apparently wanted to bring Dario Saric over for 2015/16, and Saric shared that desire, reports David Pick, writing for Basketball Insiders. However, the No. 12 pick in the 2014 draft doesn’t have a way to escape his contract with Turkey’s Anadolu Efes until next year. Saric was circumspect when Pick asked him about the idea of coming stateside and the situation with his overseas team.

“It’s really hard for me to answer that,” Saric said. “I can’t comment. I think I’m ready to compete in the NBA, against the best players, but we built a great team in Efes and I want to help the club win a championship.”

In any case, it would seem that Saric is anxious to sign with the Sixers as soon as he can, rather than wait until 2017, when he wouldn’t be bound by the rookie scale, though that’s just my observation. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The most recent talks the Nets have had with the Cavaliers were about Cleveland draft-and-stash center Sasha Kaun, not Joe Johnson, as Chris Mannix of SI.com reports as part of a larger piece. The Nets and Kaun, a 6’11” 30-year-old, have had mutual interest for some time, tweets Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The Spurs have also reportedly talked to the Cavs about him. The Johnson discussion is reportedly dormant.
The Knicks offered their $2.814MM room exception to Jason Smith, but he turned it down for more money from the Magic, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. New York could have offered as much as $3,933,600 via Non-Bird rights, but agent Mark Bartelstein made it clear there are no hard feelings, as Berman relays. “The Knicks made a great attempt to try to keep him,’’ Bartelstein said.
Soon-to-be Raptors signee DeMarre Carroll authored an homage to the Hawks, his former team, in The Players’ Tribune, giving credit to a handful of figures, especially former Hawks assistant Quin Snyder, who’s now head coach of the Jazz.
New Raptors D-League one-to-one affiliate Raptors 905 has named Dan Tolzman as its GM and Jesse Mermuys its head coach and assistant GM, the team announced. Both were already employed within the Raptors organization.

Latest On Cavs, Tristan Thompson

July 8th, 2015 at 9:10am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 8TH, 9:10am: The sides made a bit of progress Tuesday, sources told Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who includes the tidbit at the end of a broader story on Amico Hoops.

JULY 6TH, 1:02pm: Talks between the sides continue, but the dialogue isn’t producing much of substance at this point, Haynes hears. Other teams are keeping a keen watch on the Thompson dialogue, given that LeBron James reportedly won’t talk to the Cavs about re-signing until Thompson’s deal is done, as Haynes details.

1:10pm: The gap isn’t vast, and there’s no animosity between the sides, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears (Twitter link).

JULY 2ND, 12:05pm: A gap remains between the sides in spite of the progress they made Wednesday, Windhorst tweets.

JULY 1ST, 2:09pm: The Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson are close to an agreement on a deal that would pay him north of $80MM, report Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It appears that would be about the maximum that he could receive in a five-year arrangement. LeBron James made it clear this spring that he wanted his fellow Rich Paul client back with the Cavs, months after Thompson and Cleveland didn’t come to terms on an extension this past fall.

A deal for Thompson would be yet another significant commitment for Cleveland, which will retain Kevin Love, reportedly for the max, and almost certainly will do the same with LeBron. The team has already had internal discussions about a payroll of $100-110MM next season with a tax payment of some $75MM, as Windhorst previously reported.

Thompson turned down a four-year, $52MM extension offer this past fall, betting that he could do better this summer, even though the Cavs had brought in Kevin Love at his position. Thompson came off the bench most of the time, but he excelled as a starter in the playoffs when Love was injured. Still, a max deal is quite a high price to pay for the 24-year-old who averaged only 8.5 points per game this past season, particularly with Love coming back, too.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Jefferson, Kaun

July 7th, 2015 at 7:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics have failed to land a major star via free agency thus far this offseason, but being free of burdensome contracts heading into the summer of 2016 will set the franchise up to be major players, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. Salary cap experts are saying that Boston could potentially get themselves $39MM-$50MM under the cap if they play their cards properly, which means they could have the ability to sign two free agents to maximum contracts next offseason, Bulpett adds. The Boston Herald scribe also notes that it may be easier for the team to land two stars rather than one in the same offseason since players want to go where they have the opportunity to win, and signing as a duo would hold more potential appeal.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The Knicks are one of several teams to express interest in unrestricted free agent guard John Jenkins, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com reports (Twitter link).
Nets forward Cory Jefferson has been forced to cease Summer League play due to an ankle injury he has been struggling with, Shams Charania of RealGM relays (on Twitter). If Jefferson remains on Brooklyn’s roster past July 15th his contract for 2015/16 will become partially guaranteed for $150k, and this setback isn’t expected to affect Jefferson’s roster spot, Charania notes.
If the Cavaliers and the Nets end up striking a deal to send Joe Johnson to Cleveland, there is a very good chance that the draft rights to Sasha Kaun head to Brooklyn in the transaction, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily tweets. The 30-year-old center has reportedly been a target of the Nets’ this offseason, though the talks between the two franchises appear to be stalled for the moment.
As much as the Raptors may end up missing Lou Williams‘ offensive game, the team is glad to have rid itself of the distractions that the guard brought to the squad, Steve Simmons of The Toronto Sun writes. The reigning Sixth Man of the Year agreed to a three-year, $21MM arrangement with the Lakers, and if Nick Young isn’t traded, which the Lakers are reportedly exploring doing, it will certainly make for an entertaining locker room in Los Angeles in 2015/16.

Cavs, Nets Joe Johnson Talks Stall

July 7th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 11:28am: Cleveland and Brooklyn haven’t spoken for three days, Broussard said on SportsCenter (Twitter link via Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com). Mazzeo indicates that the talks are dead as the Cavs focus elsewhere.

12:50pm: The Cavs were the first to show resistance to the deal, based on their tax concerns, and now the Nets aren’t all that enthusiastic, either, as a transcription of Broussard’s SportsCenter appearance on NetsDaily reveals. LeBron James, who wants the Cavs roster to be as loaded as possible, is watching as he lingers in free agency, Broussard reminds.

MONDAY, 12:20pm: The Nets have been looking for a third team to take on Varejao’s contract, but the talks with the Cavs are on hold for now, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN (Twitter link via ESPN colleague Mike Mazzeo).

4:55pm: The Johnson trade talks are preliminary and not likely to be productive, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily.com tweets.

SUNDAY, 3:33pm: The Cavaliers are interested in using Brendan Haywood‘s bloated non-guaranteed salary as ballast in a trade that would bring in Joe Johnson, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Cleveland would have to send additional salaries to Brooklyn to make the salary matching work, but Windhorst suggests that Anderson Varejao is a possibility to go to the Nets.

The Nets have been actively shopping Johnson in recent days and they’ve had talks with the Grizzlies about the veteran. The Pistons and Hornets, also spoke with Brooklyn about him this past season, despite his severely bloated contract. Johnson, who averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 34.9 minutes per contest last season, is the second-highest paid player in the league at $24.8MM for 2015/16. He’s not a great value, but he is still a strong scorer and would give Cleveland some additional outside shooting. While moving his salary would lift a great luxury tax burden off of Mikhail Prokhorov’s shoulders, it would have the inverse affect on the Cavs’ finances.

Haywood has a $10.5MM non-guaranteed deal that has huge financial implications for a team if waived prior to August 1st. Trading for and waiving Haywood could save the Nets tens of millions in tax payments. Still, there would need to be more, such as Varejao, coming from Cleveland to Brooklyn in order to make a swap work.

The Cavs are poised to go over the tax threshold by quite a bit if they re-sign most of their free agents, as GM David Griffin has indicated he wants to do, but for now, they’re below the tax line, which is projected to come in at around $82MM when the league sets the figure at the end of the July Moratorium. So, they can take in as much as $15,522,500 via trade using the Haywood contract, which calls for a non-guaranteed salary of $5MM less than that amount, as long as that trade doesn’t take them into tax territory. If they do a trade involving Haywood at a point when it would either cause them to cross the tax line or when they already have crossed the tax line, they could only take in $13,253,125 using Haywood’s salary. The Nets are already well into tax territory, so they can’t bring in more than 125% plus $100K than they send out.

If the Cavs send both Haywood and Varejao to the Nets, it won’t matter whether Cleveland is above or below the tax line, since the salary-matching rules would be the same: The Cavs would be limited to taking in 125% plus $100K. Johnson’s deal would fit within those parameters.

Varejao, when healthy, is a capable rebounder and scorer, but health issues have dogged him in recent years. Over the last five seasons, Varejao has missed 50+ contests in four of those campaigns. In his “healthiest” of those five seasons, Varejao played in 65 regular season games. For his career, the big man has averaged 7.9 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 25. 8 minutes per night.

The possibility of moving Varejao could be behind the Cavs’ interest in free-agent forward David West over the last several days, Windhorst writes. West has indicated he wants to play for a Finals contender, and the Cavs have been attempting to recruit him, sources told Windhorst.

Eastern Rumors: Jackson, Knicks, Smith

July 6th, 2015 at 9:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Reggie Jackson shakes off skepticism about the contract he agreed to with the Pistons and believes he’ll prove to be a bargain, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reports. Jackson will become the highest-paid player in team history when he signs the five-year, $80MM contract that was hammered out on Sunday night. He was a backup behind Russell Westbrook with the Thunder until the Pistons acquired him as their starting floor leader at the trade deadline. “It’s a small sample size; I understand people see the small size and all that,” Jackson said to Ellis. “A lot of these players getting deals have been starters their whole career and are hitting game-winning shots and other things like that. In about two or three years I hope everybody says Reggie Jackson is underpaid.”

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

The Knicks may offer their $2.814MM room exception for teams under the cap to Alexey Shved, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports. According to the source, Shved, who played 16 games with the Knicks last season, has two other NBA teams interested as well a handful of European offers, a source told Berman. Veterans Caron Butler and Willie Green are two other players that the club is considering with its room exception, Berman adds.
J.R. Smith wants a three-year commitment from the team on his next deal, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Haynes seconds the notion that Smith is unlikely to end up re-signing with the Cavs, as it seems like Cleveland doesn’t want to invest long-term in him. The Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto wrote earlier that Smith “pretty much signed his exit papers” from Cleveland when he opted out. But Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that the team has not abandoned its pursuit of Smith and desires to keep the 2014/15 core intact.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd and GM John Hammond denied a report that Kidd would take over the team’s operations, Tamira Madsen of the Associated Press reports. The report from onmilwaukee.com also claimed Hammond would be reassigned within the Bucks organization or possibly leave the team but Kidd told the AP that was false. “There is no friction, there is no announcement,” Kidd said.