Cleveland’s search for financial wiggle room hasn’t stopped with the deal to Charlotte.
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Cavaliers are still trying to find a trade partner for Max Strus, even after reaching an agreement to move him last week. Strus is on a $16.7MM expiring contract for 2026/27, and league sources told Stein the Cavs are still looking for a taker.
The motivation is clear enough from the rest of Cleveland’s recent moves. The team saved about $6.8MM in the Schröder deal by turning his $14.8MM salary into Tre Mann’s $8MM number, but Stein reports the Cavs want even more room to re-sign James Harden and strengthen their chase of either Nuggets wing Peyton Watson or Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga.
Strus gives teams a straightforward pitch: shooting. He’s a career 37% three-point shooter, and despite appearing in only 12 games last season while recovering from foot surgery, he still handled a playoff rotation role. In the postseason, he averaged 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game across all 18 games.
Harden’s next contract sounds close, too. A source familiar with the process told Stein that the multiyear deal should be finalized “soon-ish.” Harden has been a free agent since turning down his $42.3MM player option in late June, though he was always expected to stay in Cleveland.
Stein also reported that Bennedict Mathurin’s contract standoff with the Clippers has not moved much. The restricted free agent’s camp is still in contact with the Pelicans, Bulls and Bucks, while a source briefed on the situation says the Clippers remain interested in bringing him back even after re-signing Bradley Beal last week. If the Kawhi Leonard trade is completed, L.A. would have 15 players on fully or partially guaranteed standard contracts, plus Cam Christie on a non-guaranteed deal.
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic has already connected with new Lakers owners Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner after last week’s announcement of the team’s sale. Stein says Doncic plans to meet with them when he can.
He’s spending the summer in Slovenia with his daughters and will host 16 teammates in Ljubljana on Thursday. Cameron Carr is the lone current Laker who can’t make the trip because he has to attend an NBA rookie orientation at the same time.
And in Dallas, new Mavericks president Masai Ujiri has spoken with Klay Thompson about what comes next. The Heat are among the teams hoping for a buyout, but the Mavericks have been saying since mid-June that they want to trade Thompson and get something back for his $17.5MM expiring contract.
Stein spoke with two sources familiar with the process, and they said it remains unclear how the situation will be resolved. Dallas currently has 16 players on standard contracts and must move at least one before the season starts.
In Other News...
Meleek Thomas May Have Already Forced The Cavs Into A Decision
Meleek Thomas did enough in Summer League to make the Cavaliers rethink the shape of their backcourt, and that alone says plenty about how quickly a young player can alter a front offices plans. Cleveland had brought in Dennis Schroder to stabilize the guard rotation, but Thomas early impression gave the team a reason to consider a different path, one that prioritized flexibility and a clearer look at the rookies place in the rotation.
The result is a small but meaningful decision point for the Cavs as they sort out their guard depth and cap picture. Teams around the league are already making similar judgment calls on veterans and younger talent, weighing immediate help against longer-term roster room, and Cleveland appears to have been pushed into its own version of that choice sooner than expected. The only thing left is whether Thomas summer surge turns into something the Cavs can keep building around once the real games begin. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Just Got Pulled Into A Wild Kevin Durant Trade Idea
The Kevin Durant chatter that has started to swirl around Houston has now dragged Cleveland into the mix, and it is the kind of speculation that tends to get attention fast around the league. The Rockets are reportedly open to exploring trade options involving Durant, who is not being treated as untouchable, and one of the more eye-catching mock constructions has the Cavaliers involved in a four-team framework built around major names and a lot of moving parts.
For Cleveland, the appeal is obvious even if the realism is shaky. Any scenario involving a player of Durants caliber instantly changes the conversation, while the rest of the proposed structure adds another layer of intrigue for a team that would have to weigh present-day impact against long-term flexibility. For now, though, it remains exactly what it is: a speculative idea that has not been confirmed by any of the teams involved, with plenty still to sort out before it becomes anything more than an offseason talking point. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Just Opened A Door To Another Roster Move
The Cavaliers move to send Dennis Schroder out and bring Tre Mann back in was less about shaking up the rotation and more about creating options. ESPN analyst Zach Kram viewed Clevelands side of the deal as a solid one, noting that the swap trims salary and gives the front office a little more breathing room as it continues to manage the roster.
Schroder was not expected to leave a major on-court hole, which is part of why this transaction stands out as a functional basketball move rather than a headline-grabber. For Cleveland, the real significance may be what comes next, since the deal quietly opens a door to another roster decision the team can make with more flexibility than it had before. [Read more 🡒]