Old Faces, Old Places: Kyrie Irving Re-Signs With Cleveland Cavaliers
The Player: Kyrie Irving
The Team: Cleveland Cavaliers
The Contract: 5 years, $90 million
How does it affect the cap situation?
With the proejcted salary cap for 2014-2015 around $63.2 million, Cleveland looks to have a little bit of cap room to play with. The Cavs have about $47.2 million tied up in salaries, but this will jump to about $51.8 million when they sign Andrew Wiggins. Nearly $15 million of this figure is in the form of nonguaranteed contracts with Anderson Varejao, Alonzo Gee, Scotty Hopson, and Matthew Dellavedova, meaning Cleveland could get to about $36.8 million if they really wanted to, before cap holds.
Luol Deng has a massive cap hold of roughly $19.2 million, although this would be erased when and if Deng chooses to play elsewhere. This isa very realistic scenario, as Deng will probably have plenty of contenders throwing some serious money at him to leave Cleveland. The Cavs have $36 million total in cap holds, which includes Deng, Hawes, Wiggins, and C.J. Miles.
Basically, if the likes of LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony really wanted to come to Cleveland, they could probably find a way to make it happen. I won’t hold my breath, but it’s a possibility.
After the 2014-2015 season, when Kyrie’s extension kicks in, Cleveland looks to have a lot of cap space. If they avoid resigning the likes of Hawes and Deng, who won’t be cheap on the open market, they should have no problem extending Wiggins a few years down the line.
Because the Cavs have so many young players on their roster who will want an extension soon, there are a ton of variables that makes any sort of projection tough. Will they want to extend players like Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, or will they be dealt? If there aren’t serious signs of improvement this season, will they give up on Anthony Bennett?
ong story short, the Cavs have cap space; for now. They have some significant decisions to make soon, but Kyrie’s extension won’t kill their cap.
How does it affect the luxury tax?
Unless the Cavs go nuts this summer, it probably doesn’t. The luxury tax level is projected to be $77 million next season, and the Cavs don’t look to be sniffing that.
Even if the Cavs pick up all of their nonguaranteed contracts, they’ll have about $25 million in space before they hit the tax. I don’t see Deng and Hawes pushing them over that line, and that’s assuming they bring back both of them. Depending on how close the Cavs think they are to winning and if they want to keep a lot of their recent draft picks around, they could approach the tax two or three years down the road.
For now, it doesn’t look like Dan Gilbert will have to worry about cutting a luxury tax check.
What’s next?
That LeBron guy would be nice.
Since that probably isn’t happening, bringing back Deng and/or Hawes will be near the top of the list, although bringing back Deng and keeping Waiters would create a logjam on the wing with Wiggins coming to town. Tristan Thompson is eligible for an extension, but the Cavs would be smart to wait on that front.
I wouldn’t expect any top tier free agents to come to Cleveland this summer. They have their core in Kyrie, Wiggins, and potentially Waiters, Thompson, and Bennett. A few cheaper veteram pieces would helpful, such as Channing Frye or maybe Josh McRoberts. Dan Gilbert can make a pitch to LeBron’s camp, but the most realistic next moves will be adding supporting pieces around their young players to give them a chance to improve and succeed.
