Cleveland Cavaliers Team Salary

Quick: About $3.9 million in cap space.  1st, 19th, 31st and 33rd in the 2013 NBA Draft.  Likely maximum space without trades in July ($60 million cap) = ~$20,871,076.

Exceptions: Room Exception $2.575 million.

Acquisitions: Signed first-round picks Dion Waiters (4th) and Tyler Zeller (17th).  Traded for Jeremy Pargo.  Luke Harangody accepted his one-year qualifying offer (with Bird Rights, meaning he has implicit trade veto power).  Claimed Jon Leuer off waivers (Houston Rockets).  C.J. Miles signed for a two-year, $4.45 million contract with the second year partially/non-guaranteed.  Signed undrafted free agent forward Michael Eric and Kevin Jones to three-year, partial/non-guaranteed deals.  Re-signed Alonzo Gee to a three-year, $9.75 million deal (last year partial/non-guaranteed).  Picked up the third-year options on Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.  Invited D’Aundray Brown to camp.  Re-signed Kevin Jones.  Claimed Shaun Livingston off waivers from Washington Wizards.  Traded Jon Leuer to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a first-round pick.  Signed Chris Quinn to a two-year deal, second partial/non-guaranteed.

Waived Players: Kelenna Azubuike, Michael Eric, Kevin Jones, D’Aundray Brown, Luke Harangody, Donald Sloan, Samardo Samuels, Jeremy Pargo, Josh Selby

Roster Count: 15 guaranteed

Depth Chart*:
PG:  Kyrie Irving, Shaun Livingston, Daniel Gibson, Chris Quinn
SG: Dion Waiters, C.J. Miles, Wayne Ellington
SF: Alonzo Gee, Luke Walton, Omri Casspi
PF: Tristan Thompson, Marreese Speights, Kevin Jones
C: Anderson Varejao, Tyler Zeller

*Note: Teams often adjust their depth chart throughout the season, sometimes game by game.

Free Agents:
Bird: Anthony Parker (retiring)
Early-Bird: Semih Erden (playing in Turkey)

Head Coach: Byron Scott, signed through 2013/14

Unsigned Second-Round Picks: Sasha Kaun, Milan Macvan, Ejike Ugboaja

Amnesty: Used on Baron Davis – 2012-13, $12.25 million

Pick Swaps:

2013 – Owed first-rounder (top-10 protected through 2014, unprotected in 2015) from the Miami HEAT (LeBron James).

2013 – Owed first-rounder (top-13 protected, top-12 protected in 2014, top-10 protected through 2017, converts to 2017 second-rounder, top-55 protected) from Sacramento Kings (J.J. Hickson).

2013 – Have the right to swap lowest (closest to 30) first-rounder with Los Angeles Lakers (Ramon Sessions), although if Lakers are a lottery team it goes to the Phoenix Suns.  The Cavaliers can swap either their own pick or the Miami/Sacramento with the Lakers.  If the Lakers make the postseason, it would be probably be the Miami pick to Cleveland.

2013 – Owed second-rounder from Orlando Magic (Justin Harper).

2014 – Owed second-rounder from Orlando Magic (Justin Harper).

2014 – Owed second-rounder from Memphis Grizzlies (D.J. Kennedy).

2015 – Owed first-rounder (top-10 protected through 2016, unprotected in 2017 – not to be sent until two years following completion of protected pick in 2013) from Miami HEAT (LeBron James).  Owed first-rounder (top-five protected and 15-30 protected in 2015) from the Memphis Grizzlies.  The pick has the same protections in 2016 but just just top-five protected in 2017 and 2018.  It’s completely unprotected in 2019.

Cash Paid ($3.1 million max): $0

Cap Holds
Key: B = Bird Rights; EB = Early Bird Rights; BR = Bird/Restricted; NB = Non-Bird;
DF = Declined Option on First-Round Scale; WB = Waived Bird; M = Minimum

Name2014201520162017
TOTAL$37,413,598$12,910,025$44,202,427$17,866,088
Luke Walton$9,137,045-B
Daniel Gibson$9,105,431-B
Omri Casspi$6,604,188-B
Wayne Ellington$5,207,605-B
Anthony Parker$4,275,500-B
Kevin Jones$1,115,243-E
Semih Erden$1,084,293-E
Shaun Livingston$884,293-M
Marreese Speights$8,578,500-B
C.J. Miles$2,892,500-E
Chris Quinn$1,439,025-E
Anderson Varejao$14,556,817-B
Kyrie Irving$13,668,750-B
Tristan Thompson$10,276,860-B
Alonzo Gee$5,700,000-B
Dion Waiters$10,276,860-B
Tyler Zeller$7,589,228-B

What is a cap hold? A cap hold is the amount of space a free agent counts towards a team’s cap. These “cap holds” factor in when a team signs free agents. If they didn’t exist, a team could use their cap space to sign other free agents until the space was gone, and then re-sign their own free agents using the Bird exception. A cap hold cannot exceed the maximum contract offer that player can receive on the open market (as defined by years of experience – indicated in the table above by MAX followed by the years of experience). The cap hold disappears if the team renounces their own free agent, that free agent signs with a new team, or re-signs with the same team.

Notes: A free agent does not become restricted until the team issues a qualifying offer.  If a player’s option on a first-round rookie scale contract is declined (DF), the most the team can pay is the amount of the declined option (without using a larger exception or cap room).  Should a player allow for their Bird Rights to be waived during the season in trade (WB), the most the team can pay is 120% of their prior salary (without using a larger exception or cap room).

Qualifying offers do not count towards the total team salary for that season and are informational only.

Unsigned first-round picks (UF) are not guaranteed until signed but their salary counts against the cap during the offseason.  A typical UF gets a bump of 120% upon signing.

Players with at least three years of experience who are signed to a one-year, vet-min contract are only charged $854,389 to the cap and tax.  Actual salary amount, which applies to trades is listed under notes.

“Camp invites” can put a team over the hard cap but the math must be resolved by opening night.

Salary and team data changes quite often. If you notice a discrepancy, please notify HOOPSWORLD Senior Writer Eric Pincus.

(Updated 5/23/2013)