Matthew Dellavedova – who played the best basketball of his life in the NBA Finals – reportedly wanted $4 million per season and a multi-year contract.
He’ll have to settle for a bit less.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
Matthew Dellavedova will return to the Cavs on a one-year deal worth approximately $1.2 million, source w/ knowledge of the deal tells ESPN
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 27, 2015
It sounds as if Dellavedova accepted his qualifying offer – $1,147,276.
I’d guess McMenamin just rounded generously. There’d be little incentive for the Cavaliers to offer Dellavedova more, even $52,724, than his qualifying offer on a one-year contract – especially because that amount would be multiplied in luxury-tax payments. I suppose it’s possible, Cleveland feared Dellavedova signing an unfavorable offer sheet elsewhere and bumped up his salary to avoid him doing that, but that seems unlikely.
The Cavaliers can make Dellavedova a restricted free agent again next offseason, because he’ll have fewer than four years of experience. Maybe he’ll draw better offers then with the salary cap skyrocketing, but it’s hard to see perception of his on-court value significantly rising after his impressive NBA Finals.
Dellavedova is a nice scorer with a steady jumper and a knack for finding creases in the defense. He works on defense, though he’s limited on that end due to his subpar athleticism. He’s a rotation-level player on an average NBA team, but Cleveland is well above average. He’ll probably be the third point guard behind Kyrie Irving and Mo Williams, though Dellavedova could earn more minutes when Williams slides to shooting guard. That’ll happen much more if the Cavaliers don’t re-sign J.R. Smith.
My guess: Cleveland continues to keep its core group together, with Smith and Tristan Thompson eventually following this re-signing.
