The Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly signed guards Malik Newman and Levi Randolph to standard contract deals, and it seems very likely that both will again play with Cleveland’s G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, in 2019-20.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are set to have 13 players on their active roster going into training camp for the 2019-20 season, and they are reportedly likely to keep one roster spot open at the season’s outset, so they’ll have 14 active players then, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor noted.
They also have a two-way spot open currently; stretch big Dean Wade has one of the two two-way contracts going into the season.
The Cavaliers are filling out their roster for training camp, which starts near the end of next month, and along with those 13 players on the active roster from before along with Wade, Cleveland has reportedly signed three players on what are likely to be on non-guaranteed deals in deep shooting guard J.P. Macura, developmental rim protector Marques Bolden and defensive wing Sindarius Thornwell.
It was also noted by Real GM’s official NBA transactions log and h/t Hoops Rumors’ Luke Adams that the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to standard contract signings with guards Malik Newman and Levi Randolph.
As Adams noted, these are likely “returning rights,” contracts that are probably Exhibit-10 deals.
Both of those guards played with Cleveland’s G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, last season, and in the case with Newman, he was reportedly traded to Canton (per an official Charge press release) after starting last year with the Miami Heat’s G-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce (h/t Amico).
The 22-year-old Newman, who is 6-foot-3, had 12.0 points on 51.6% effective field goal shooting (including 33.6% from three-point range and 35.4% over the season), to go with 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 24.5 minutes per game in 25 appearances with Canton, per Basketball Reference’s G-League statistics.
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Additionally, Newman flashed as a scorer both off-the-bounce and off-the-catch with the Cleveland Summer League team in both Salt Lake City with 10.7 points per game on 50.0% shooting, and in Las Vegas with 14.0 points per game on 43.9% shooting (both per NBA.com).
The 26-year-old and 6-foot-6 Randolph, who as Amico noted, was on the Cavs’ training camp roster before the 2018-19 season, had 14.6 points per game on 56.3% effective field goal shooting (including a 45.1% clip from three-point land), to go with 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 31.4 minutes per game, again, per Basketball Reference’s G-League statistics.
Nonetheless, with neither of these players really bringing an added defensive skill set, such as is the case with Thornwell and Bolden, it’s hard to see them having a good shot at landing either the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 14th roster spot or the other two-way spot, and them being exclusively with the Charge is likely the case.
Adams also noted that Randolph could be eligible for a $50,000 dollar bonus if he returns to Canton.
If Newman or Randolph do eventually warrant minutes via two-way deal at some point next season, though, as would be the case with Macura, it would likely be due to both being able to hit open catch-and-shoot three-point looks from spot-ups and coming off of off-ball screens.
However, at this point, as Sam Amico of Amico Hoops touched on, it’s probably likely that both Newman and Randolph will be playing for the Charge exclusively in 2019-20, because the Cavaliers need to be playing Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and moreso as the season progresses, Kevin Porter Jr., big minutes and either way, Cleveland probably won’t trade one of either the expiring Matthew Dellavedova or Brandon Knight, as head coach John Beilein could use the veteran presence of one of those two to mentor younger guards.
At any rate, as Fedor touched on, Cleveland is likely to have the maximum of 20 players allowed on the training camp roster.