The Cleveland Cavaliers met with restricted free agent Gordon Hayward on Wednesday and from reports all over the league The Cavaliers even talked contract as well. The reports stated The Cavaliers were going to offer Hayward a max contract which would be about $14-$15 million. Talk about hitting the panic button if you’re a Cleveland fan. Hayward is a very talented Small Forward, and would be a nice number 2 or 3 scoring option for Cleveland but I cannot imagine The Cavaliers paying Hayward this kind of money. That would easily be one contract they’d regret doing in the future due to salary cap reasons. I’m not sure why Cleveland would take themselves out of the running for some of the top tier free agents without meeting with them or attempting to explore other options. Cleveland could be trying to drive up the price in the market if Hayward does happen to get a max deal.
Hayward’s shared his thoughts on his least favorite NBA city before and you’ll get a good laugh out of which one it was.
Least favorite, I would say, like, especially since I’ve been in the league, probably Cleveland. Cleveland to me is like Gotham City. It’s, like, so dreary, and just, I don’t know, and then ever since LeBron [James] left, I mean, the fans, they’re starting to pick up a little bit more, but I remember my rookie year, there was hardly anybody there.
So, that makes for a tough atmosphere when you have to go on the road, and you know, there’s absolutely no energy given to you, and there’s not even any energy in the building given to them, hardly either, so that’s a tough place to play.
If Hayward is signed by Cleveland I’ve decided he will be Commissioner Gordon. In all seriousness though Hayward’s game is fun to watch and he’s a good scoring option that has developed nicely over the past few years. Hayward would step into Cleveland’s starting Small Forward spot right away, but would unfortunately spell the end of Dion Waiters which I think is bound to happen this off season anyways unfortunately
As of right now I’d say Hayward would be a nice free agent pick up at a different price tag though. When you’re a team like Cleveland though you need to overpay for free agents and outbid a team like Utah who can match any offer, and The Jazz have stated they’d match any offer for Hayward. According to reports Utah saying they’d match any offer has made Cleveland a bit reluctant to offer Hayward the max deal, and those reports seem to be true with the Small Forward leaving town without a contract offer. The Cavaliers have a ton of cap space to use though, but Hayward is in the next tier of free agents if it was a $9-$10 million a year I’d say that’s a deal I could accept. So Cleveland fans take a deep breath you may have dodged a bullet, but what’s their next move?
