It could come down to this for Shawn Marion: What does he want more, money or winning?
While Dallas had talked about re-signing him the pursuit of Marion seems to have come down to two Eastern Conference teams: Cleveland and Indiana. The Cavaliers offer the chance to win right now, the Pacers are not going to be contenders this season but potentially could offer more money.
Right now it looks like Cleveland and winning is in the lead, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Free agent forward Shawn Marion is leaning strongly toward signing with Cleveland over Indiana, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 7, 2014
Marion hasn't formalized agreement with Cavs yet, but Indiana's already looking elsewhere than Marion for free agent help, sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 7, 2014
In theory, the Pacers can offer more money, or at least will be able to soon, as they have applied for the disabled player exception, reports David Aldridge of NBA.com. That would allow them to sign a player for up to $5.3 million, which even a portion of is more than the Cavaliers could offer.
But we say in theory here for a reason — even if the Pacers waive their unguaranteed contracts they are about $1.7 million below the luxury tax line that the team is not going to cross. (Remember, Paul George’s max contract still counts against the cap.) So unless there are some salary dump moves, the Pacers in practice can’t offer much more money than Cleveland.
And if the money is close, you’d take winning and the chance at a ring.
Which is why Marion to Cleveland probably happens. That would be a nice solid bench player for the Cavs to add. Marion averaged 10.4 points a game with a respectable .537 true shooting percentage and he shot 35 percent from three. This is a team that could use his kind of veteran depth.