Cavs: Instant reactions to the Lauri Markkanen sign and trade
Cavs: Instant rections to the Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade: 3. Cavs gave up a lot
The Cleveland Cavaliers have likely been canvassing the league all offseason soliciting offers for Larry Nance Jr. He is the kind of player much more valuable to a contending team than to a rebuilding squad like the Cavs. Especially when it became clear that Cleveland was comfortable rolling out the young guys and playing for the future, Nance was on the block.
The expectation was that the Cavs would get significant value back for Nance. The Portland Trail Blazers certainly valued Nance, but a lottery-protected first-round pick plus the slightly negative salary of Derrick Jones Jr. is not a significant return to the Cavs. They obviously didn’t just keep that, but rerouted it plus a second-rounder to the Chicago Bulls for Lauri Markkanen.
To add to the cost for the Cavaliers, they also have to pay Markkanen’s salary. Despite having no other obvious suitors, Markkanen’s camp managed to negotiate a contract of four-years, $67 million, a $16.75 million average annual value (AAV). In the fourth year of the contract, only $6 million is guaranteed.
Reportedly the Cavs will start the contract for Markkanen at $15.58 million. Add in the contracts for Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love and Evan Mobley and the team will be paying $74.91 million to bigs this year, or a whopping 66.6 percent of the salary cap.
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The Cavs are now hard-capped due to bringing in a player via sign-and-trade, and currently sit around five million under the luxury tax and $11 million below the tax apron, which the Cavs cannot exceed this year for any reason. They still have 10 guaranteed contracts and four non-guaranteed deals on the books, and will most likely look to add a wing for that final spot.