The Cleveland Cavaliers Have Big Changes Coming – 2024 Free Agency Analysis: Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers Have Big Changes Coming – 2024 Free Agency Analysis: Cleveland Cavaliers

the first thing I want to talk about is the Cleveland Cavaliers who got eliminated and not even 10 minutes into this we didn’t even get to process anything before the Fallout all the reporting about what went wrong came out and there is a lot of pressure now clearly especially considering all the stuff that they gave up for Donan Mitchell and they need to keep him they cannot afford to lose him he’s in a situation where he’s got a player option after this year so he could become free agent and the Cavaliers are really going to need to get him committed on some type of extension what happens if he puts him in a situation where he doesn’t commit to them to any type of extension but he doesn’t demand a trade either some tough decisions will have to be made and darus Garland featur is also being reported on it’s supposedly going to be uh tied with whether or not uh Mitchell stays Jared Allen’s also being talked about as well even without any of these players making some push of where they may or may not want to go big changes are definitely going to come to this roster and it’s because it’s getting really expensive the reason this has all worked so far they’ve been able to pay Donovan Mitchell and darus Garland Max contracts is because Evan Mo’s been making very little on his rookie contract and now it’s time to pay him he’s going to be extension eligible how sustainable is this group paying uh two now three potentially maxed guys for a core that so far has not been a legitimate title Contender so I want to talk about some of those contract options for those players I want to get into what the payroll could look like so you could kind of get an idea how expensive it’s going to get and on that not I do want to touch on uh one particular trade scenario that’s been floated around mainly Brandon Ingram whether it’s for Darius G or Donovan Mitchell seems like a pretty clean swap on paper makes sense uh basketball-wise but I’m going to push back a little bit uh when I get into those payroll issues so this is the Cavaliers payroll heading into next season biggest thing to note is their proximity to the luxury tax line the $171.3 million amount they’re roughly 10 million below it now I don’t expect them to uh cross that point at any time next season uh so they already have nearly a full roster so they could really just run it back for the most part they have enough flexibility to add like one more pretty good player uh might not be enough for Isaac aoro or to use the entire non-x mid level which is starting at just under 13 million though I do think they should definitely bring them back um so they so you can the Caps can continue this for like another year or so but that’s really going to change starting next year once the new contracts for Evan mobl potentially Mitchell kick in and the biggest thing that the biggest story about the Cavs is like when are they going to finally stop this too small guard to Center lineup which seems like it’s finally about to happen and they could definitely easily in my opinion reorient the uh starting lineup to get those Wing players uh especially just by moving one of Garland or Mitchell they have enough value to really solve that issue and it helps a lot that they have Max dreu uh he’s been playing really well uh that contract’s looking amazing so if you’re able to just keep one of these guys as your lead guard and move stre down to the two and then get like two more forwards in between now I think you’ve got a really nice modern lineup so Donovan Mitchell is extension eligible starting around July uh he’s going to be a ble to sign up to four years 28.5 million with the Cavaliers keep um in mind he’s not super max eligible that is because he was only able to do with the Jazz and since they traded him he cannot do with the Cavaliers so this is the maximum he can get which is pretty good value if you can get him for all four of those years in a rising cap environment uh versus what the what the 35% Max would have cost now here’s the biggest issue with the caps and why they cannot gamble on bovan Mitchell’s future and that this is the maximum contract that he can sign if he were to leave as a free agent in 2025 signed with another team 200 million over four years the one he could sign with the Cavaliers is only $8 million more so if you’re Donovan Mitchell why do you need to commit right now to the Cavs if you’re not risking any money if he was super max eligible it’ probably be a whole different story the recent history of players becoming eligible for the super Maxes take the money and then deal with your future later if it comes to that so they’re going to have to get some kind of commit commitment from him uh or they’re going to have to I think they’re definitely going to have to make some tough decision now if Donovan Mitchell does extend with the Cavaliers there’s another alternative he could pursue which is a short-term extension and I’ll explain why two reasons one he does keep some flexibility open for the future if he doesn’t want to be in Cleveland now if you look around I don’t think there are that many better basketball opportunities realistically there are teams like the Lakers or heat and that’s debatable but at the same time I don’t think they have strong enough offers to get him and then you got a team like Brooklyn he does want to be the reports in the past hour that he does want to be in New York and they do have enough to get uh to acquire him in my opinion but is that a better basketball situation in Cleveland I think he has a much better chance at uh reaching the finals or winning a title over the next two years years if he stayed with the Cavs so that’s number one just when you look at what else is out there but then the other thing is that by signing a shorter extension now he’s able to maximize his earnings over not just the short the long term but o over the next four years so this is called the Bradley Beal plan basically what Donovan Mitchell could do is sign a two-year extension for the 30% Max and if he wants to even put a player option at the end of 2728 and then he becomes comes a free agent after he’s got his 10th year of service and then he can sign a Max worth 35% of the cap which is basically the super Max and this would allow him to make $32 million more between 2025 and 2029 because he’d be making a lot more money in the last uh in the between 27 and 29 versus if he were to take the regular four-year Max extension he can take right now so if he does extend with the c I think there’s a very strong uh chance that he does some type of short-term extension now I’ve been thinking pretty long and hard about Evan Mo’s next contract he’s eligible to extend this offseason for up to five years projected at $225 million and I’m sure he’s going to command it in negotiations and if you look at the recent history of centers getting rookie extensions uh several Max guys like Nik laoka Joel embiid Anthony Davis uh and just uh oh DeAndre Aiden got a Max um Dam montis aonis recent extension is basically very close to a Max and then you’ve got another class of centers making around 20 million a year guys like Miles Turner Jared Allen uh yaka purle Clint capella guys like that and the only player I can really think of that’s in between is Kristof porzingis who’s about to make 30 million a year so when you look at that Spectrum I think you Evan moley’s a lot closer to the m guys now he may not be quite a max player at this point based on how he’s been but if the offense comes along I’m sure and I’m sure the Cavs feel this way too that if he’s not a max player now he Pro he should be one at some point during the his next contract so I have a hard time right now when projecting the Cavs seeing Mo’s next contract going any other way but a Max so now I’m looking at the Cavs payroll so far for 2526 which is the season uh following the one that’s about to happen and in my projection I put Donovan Mitchell’s first year uh Max salary Evan moy’s first year Max salary so now they’ve got three max players and they’re already pretty close to the tax with just nine players they still got to fill out several roster spots now I’m not saying that the Cavs are not going to pay the tax in that season uh it’s just that the roster needs to be good enough that Cavs have had an appp appetite to spend in the tax before when they had LeBron James and Kyrie Irving so if they can uh just shift some pieces around and really uh make it a a true Contender which is easier said than done then yeah I’m sure they’d be willing to pay some tax soon but generally speaking I just don’t even think the thre Max structure might even be viable for the Cavs which is why I’m not a big fan of the Brandon Ingram scenarios that it’s being floated out there because if he’s going to demand the max then you’re looking at these same problems going forward so if you’re the Caps you really want to have three max players where only one of them is a Bonafide top 15 to 20 player so I think that they’re probably better off Distributing that salary saw to multiple Wing players and resolve the wing situation that way now they don’t need to make changes right now um I mainly because there’s a chance like what if the offers for Darius Garland Don V Mitchell Jared Allen are just not good enough uh you don’t want to make a bad trade so they could take these decisions into the trade deadline but definitely before this 25 26 Season the changes will be made and I think they could resolve their wing situation just from Trading one of Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell now I could see them Target targeting a guy like Brandon Ingram making that level of salary anyways and deal with the finances much later down the line but some I would definitely see if you can turn uh one of those guys into like multiple uh more affordable Wing players like some type of combination of den AIA Kyle kosma Jeremy Grant just a couple guys that you can bring in they can help really fill out that lineup and maybe even give you more flexibility to resign Isaac aoro and that’s before they potentially trade Jared Allen I feel like there’s a good chance they could resolve their wing situation just from Trading one of Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell and I think now would be a great time to trade Allen just because he had a really great season he his value is probably really high he’s got two years left on a really good deal and it was a good decision to have him while Evan Mobley was coming along but I think that’s it Evan Mobley is ready to be the starting center going forward now there’s still a lot of time until July which is when Donovan Mitchell can officially sign an extension I’m sure the conversations are going on now where they’re approaching Mitchell and saying hey here’s the here’s some coaching candidates we could hire here’s some trade packages that we can get for Darius Garland and or Jared Allen if we hire coach X and get players Y and Z will this be good enough to secure a commitment from you and from then then they’ll probably know what they got to do

The Cleveland Cavaliers have incrementally progressed over the past three seasons with a talented but flawed roster. After winning their first playoff series, expectations are picking up and the pressure is on organizationally. The biggest domino is Donovan Mitchell. They gave up a lot for him and need to keep him long-term. If he doesn’t extend, do they risk taking him into free agency? Either way, it sounds like at least one of him or Darius Garland will be traded this season. And with Evan Mobley set to get a significant extension this summer, do they consider trading Jarrett Allen as well? And would acquiring another max player like Brandon Ingram make sense for their payroll long-term? It may be time to split up the two small guards and two centers to create a more versatile lineup.

0:00 Intro
2:13 Cavaliers 2024-25 payroll analyses
3:54 Donovan Mitchell Contract Options
7:04 Evan Mobley
8:25 2025-26 payroll projections and why trading for Brandon Ingram and having 3 max players might not be viable
10:19 Outro

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