Rumor: Cavs will match any offer for Rodney Hood
The Cleveland Cavaliers plan to match any offer Rodney Hood receives as a restricted free agent.
According to Sean Deveney of Sporting News, the Cleveland Cavaliers plan to match any contract offer that restricted free agent Rodney Hood received this offseason.
"But a source told Sporting News that the Cavs still intend to keep Hood, who is said to be a fallback option for the Bulls should their negotiations with shooting guard Zach LaVine fall apart. If Hood, who is only 25 and was averaging 16.8 points before the trade to Cleveland, gets an offer from Chicago or anyone, the Cavaliers will match.Both the Cavaliers and Hood, the source said, are braced for the possibility that Hood will sign the one-year qualifying offer, which allows him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, with the hope of rebuilding his value this season."
With the news that the Cavs intend on matching any offer for Hood, their biggest competition for Hood’s services (from a financial standpoint) — the Chicago Bulls — now have no chance to pry Hood away from Cleveland.
The Bulls would have had up to $39 million in cap space, barring trades, had they renounced all of their current cap holds. That includes restricted free agent shooting guard Zach Lavine, who has been perceived to have waning organizational support.
Per ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
The Bulls relatively clean cap makes the decision on LaVine so much more important. They can’t lock him in on massive $$$ unless they are sure he can improve significantly. I haven’t gotten the sense there is that kind of belief internally which makes the next week so interesting
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) June 28, 2018
According to Deveney, Hood is a backup plan for the Bulls should they be unable to retain Lavine.
Other teams linked to Hood in free agency are the Indiana Pacers, who can offer up to $12 million in free agency barring trades, and the New Orleans Pelicans, who can offer up to $8.5 million in free agency.
Suffice it to say, the Cleveland Cavaliers won’t have to sign Hood to a massive contrast unless the Bulls offer him one. The notoriously frugal Bulls front office could choose to offer Hood an amount in the $15 million range to outbid the Pacers but he’s unlikely to be a deal that would approach a max salary ($24.8 million for players with less than seven years of NBA experience).
As Deveney noted, Hood could opt to sign his qualifying offer and be an unrestricted free agent next summer after building his value.
That seems like the most likely option for Hood.
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If LeBron James leaves the team in free agency, Hood will likely be the second option behind Kevin Love.