Love stays with Cavs; Chandler, Pierce on move
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert promised LeBron James he would do whatever it took financially to surround him with a team capable of ending the city’s 51-year championship drought.
On the first day of free agency, Gilbert spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to back that up. All without addressing James’ contract yet.
The Cavaliers agreed to terms with Kevin Love on a maximum contract of five years and more than $110 million and gave swingman Iman Shumpert a four-year, $40 million deal, two people with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The people requested anonymity because the deals had not been announced.
It was also reported by several outlets, first by ESPN, that forward Tristan Thompson will sign a five-year, $80 million deal, bringing Gilbert’s financial outlay to a whopping $230 million before the NBA’s fiscal year was even 24 hours old.
The contracts cannot be signed until July 9, when the salary cap is established and it becomes clearer just how steep a tax bill Gilbert will be facing.
The day started with Love announcing in The Players Tribune that he was coming back to the Cavaliers after a few weeks of speculation that he could head somewhere else after one year with the Cavs. “We’re all on the same page and we’re all in,” Love wrote. “We have unfinished business, and now it’s time to get back to work.”
The first full day of NBA free agency featured skyrocketing salaries and a flurry of moves, though no decision yet from LaMarcus Aldridge. Players and teams agreed to more than $1 billion worth of deals.
Jimmy Butler and Mike Dunleavy also stayed put in Chicago for around $115 million combined, Goran Dragic is remaining in Miami, and Paul Millsap will stick with Atlanta.
But Tyson Chandler, Paul Pierce and plenty other players were on the move with salaries soaring ahead of next year’s new TV contracts that might make Wednesday’s action seem tame next summer.
Chandler will get his in Phoenix, taking $52 million over four years to leave Dallas, and the Suns also brought back guard Brandon Knight for five years and $70 million.
Atlanta’s DeMarre Carroll agreed to a deal with Toronto for $60 million over four years. Pierce then left Washington to reunite with former Boston coach Doc Rivers with the Los Angeles Clippers on a $10 million contract.
Aldridge was busy meeting with teams for a second straight day while he decides whether to leave Portland.
The Spurs were among the teams hoping to land him and were making moves to entice him. They dealt Tiago Splitter to Atlanta to clear cap space and re-signed guard Danny Green, who got $45 million for four years.
Also, the Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to terms with free-agent forward Brandan Wright. The Grizzlies used their full midlevel exception — three years and about $18 million — to land the 6-foot-10 forward.
Kings-76ers trade: A person with knowledge of the trade says the Sacramento Kings have agreed to send Nik Stauskas, Jason Thompson and Carl Landry to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a salary-shedding move to pursue free agents. Sacramento has been pursuing free-agent guards Rajon Rondo, Wesley Matthews and Monta Ellis, among others, to join DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay.