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Summary

Dellavedova never developed into the quality backup point guard that the Bucks hoped he would become when they signed him back in 2016, so they traded him back to Cleveland early in the '18-'19 season in exchange for George Hill. The former Saint Mary's Gael is your stereotypical scrappy point guard. Despite Dellavedova having a limited skillset and below-average athleticism, he has been able to stick around in the league by playing hard and making few mistakes.

 

Delly has shot a good percentage from three throughout his career, but those have been on a limited number of attempts, and he cannot create shots for himself. Dellavedova is likely best served as a third point guard at this stage of his career, and because of that he will likely only get a minimum contract next summer.

Cap Considerations

Dellavedova will be an unrestricted free agent with full Bird rights. As his cap hold ($18.3 million) greatly exceeds the salary he will get in free agency, his cap hold is not really relevant. The Cavaliers will almost certainly go into the summer prepared to renounce Dellavedova and remove his cap hold in order to maximize their cap space.

 

If the Cavs want to bring the scrappy point guard back, they can certainly do so with the potential $44 million in cap space (not including their first round pick) they will have available. If Dellavedova is brought back by the Cavs on a multi-year contract (which is unlikely), they should frontload his contract as much as possible, given they have the excess cap space now.

 

Teams other than the Cavs will have multiple ways to sign Dellavedova as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, or Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. There's also the possibility that he does not get any offers above the minimum next summer.

Potential Teams: Magic, Hawks, Suns, Pistons, Celtics

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.2 million ($1.6 million cap hit) with the Suns

Actual Contract: 1-year, $2.2 million ($1.6 million cap hit) with the Cavaliers.

Dellavedova was able to get a fully-guaranteed minimum, and I wonder how many years he can stick around in the NBA as a reliable backup point guard.

Last updated: 12/31/2020

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