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2025 Free Agents - Chuma Okeke

Okeke is a talented scoring forward that has shown promise early in his career, but hasn't put the pieces together enough to be effective. His minutes have declined each season, and he spent most of the '24-'25 season not on an NBA roster. Offensively, Okeke is a scorer that can theoretically score at all three levels. He can create a bit off the dribble, either getting to the rim or midrange pullups. He can also shoot 3s, and do so in more than just simple spot-up situations. However, he just hasn't been anywhere near efficient as a scorer. He has posted only a 50% true shooting on 64% shooting at the rim, 37% from midrange, and 33% from 3, all of which are below average for his position, according to Cleaning the Glass. He isn't very quick or explosive, so he isn't able to put a lot of pressure on defenses when attacking the rim. Defensively, Okeke posts solid steal, block, and rebounding rates, but doesn't have a big impact on that end. He isn't the most laterally quick, which hurts him as an on-ball defender. He also doesn't have the size or athleticism to provide secondary rim protection as a power forward, which is probably his best position. Although he was drafted in 2019, Okeke had torn his ACL in March of that year and did not sign his rookie scale contract until 2020, putting him on the timeline of 2020 draftees rather than 2019. Okeke will be nearly 27 years old as a potential free agent in 2025, so he's not exactly a young prospect.

Summary

Okeke has a $2.5 million team option for 2025-2026, and if that is declined he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Non-Bird rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Cavaliers could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $3.2 million. This should be enough to retain Okeke, since he settled for the minimum to come to Cleveland. Alternatively, the Cavaliers could use their Mid-Level Exception or Bi-Annual Exception (if available) to retain him. However, if they were really that interested in retaining him, they would simply pick up his option. If the Cavaliers decline his team option and sign Okeke to a new one-year minimum contract, his cap hit will actually to $2.3 million, but he will earn a little over $120k more since his minimum salary is higher than his team option amount. Therefore, it would be mutually beneficial for the Cavaliers and Okeke to sign a new one-year contract instead of exercising the team option, if they wish to retain him. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Okeke as even teams without cap space could use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Okeke only gets minimum offers again, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.

Cap Considerations

Darius Bazley (1 year non-guaranteed minimum, 2024) Kevin Knox (1 year non-guaranteed minimum, 2024) Kessler Edwards (2-1 year minimum, 2023)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Cavaliers, Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, Jazz

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.7 million (non-guaranteed) with the Cavaliers

Actual Contract: Overseas

Okeke's team option was declined as expected, and he ended up signing overseas with Real Madrid.

Last updated: 7/29/2025

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