Smith, who is represented by Leon Rose, opted out of the final year of his contract, which would have paid him $6.4 million. That’s basically what Mike Miller and Shawn Marion were previous year, with James Jones being only a bit more active.
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“I’ll be back in Cleveland for sure”, Jones told the Northeast Ohio Media Group Sunday in Las Vegas, on the red carpet for the first Players’ Awards show.
After signing Iman Shumpert, Kevin Love, and James to lucrative deals, the Cavaliers are facing an enormous tax bill that could go up to $90 million.
When asked about his gamble of declining the option possibly not working out for him, money-wise and if he regrets declining it, Smith said, “No because I’ve gotten offers that I wanted, I mean numbers that I wanted, it’s just different situations”. The 34-year-old shooter is a free agent in the current offseason.
“I definitely want to come back to Cleveland”, he said.
Mark Cuban said that he was not caught off guard by Richard Jefferson’s decision to back out of his commitment with the Mavs, and sign with the Cavs as an unrestricted free agent.
The free agent forward has agreed to terms on a one-year deal for next season with Cleveland, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday. With only nine players signed (not including Brendan Haywood’s $10.5 million, non-guaranteed contract), they’re already over the luxury tax line.
Jones played in 57 games last regular season and 20 games in the playoffs, averaging 4.4 points on 35 percent shooting from the three-point area.
What is worrying for the 24-year-old Canadian is that the Cavs are reportedly eyeing Russian center Sasha Kaun to fill his frontcourt spot instead, as per Bleacher Report. After all, they are working on giving an extension to Tristan Thompson, as well as getting JR Smith, but the Cavs are also trying to bring back Matthew Dellavedova. I say that because the options to use with that exception later could be of a large variety.
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And while his agreement with the Cavs is not a surprise, it does give him future flexibility and the ability to make more money next summer when the league’s new TV deal kicks in. He put together a good 45 game stretch for them and was a key piece moving towards the playoffs.
