Sacramento’s interest in Rodney Hood has expensive implications for Cavs

With the Sacramento Kings missing out on Zach Lavine, the Cleveland Cavaliers may soon have to pay restricted free agent Rodney Hood.

Cleveland Cavaliers restricted free agent Rodney Hood may finally have found the leverage he needed in the offseason to get a deal done. With the Sacramento Kings losing out on Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach Lavine in free agency, their interest has turned on Hood (per Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee) and, as a result, that four-year, $80 million contract they offered to Lavine could establish a market value for the scoring-minded wing.

Hood, who was averaging a career-high 16.8 points per game before being traded to Cleveland, averaged 14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.8 steals per game last season on 42.9 percent shooting from the field, 38.1 percent shooting from the perimeter and 86.0 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Lavine averaged 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steal per game on 38.3 percent shooting from the field, 34.1 percent shooting from the perimeter and 83.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Noting that Lavine played in 24 games last season after recovering from a torn ACL late in the 2016-2017 season and averaged a career-high 18.9 points per game that year, Lavine has averaged 14.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 0.8 steals per game on 43.7 percent shooting from the field, 37.3 percent shooting from three and 82.0 percent shooting from the free-throw line for his career.

For his career, Hood has averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.8 steals per game on 41.9 percent shooting from the field, 36.9 percent shooting from three and 82.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

There are differences of course, with Lavine being an exceptional athlete and combo guard and Hood being a solid but unspectacular athlete on the wing. Lavine, 23-years-old, has an age edge on Hood who is 25-years-old.

Both have shown themselves to be dependable scorers though Lavine is the more traditional player scoring off-the-bounce.

Nonetheless, anything less than a deal that’s worth $10 million per year will seem offensive to Hood and it would likely take an offer of around $15 million per year to make him feel like they valued him nearly as much as Lavine.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have spoken as if they intend to keep Hood but it may soon be time to, as they say, put their money where their mouth is. Hood is a player who could take a lot of pressure off of young Kings De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III with his playmaking abilities and he provides equal benefit to Cavs cornerstones Collin Sexton and Kevin Love, especially in the void left by LeBron James.

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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.