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Legion Hoops: Delonte West says LeBron James recruited him to the Cavs mid-game: “I remember we were sitting at the foul line, and LeBron James, he was like, man, I followed you in college… He was like, man, you want to come play with Cleveland? I thought he was just doing a veteran trick… But he was serious. He asked me to come play with Cleveland.”
Delonte West: "We were playing Cleveland, out in Seattle, the first month of the season, and I was cooking them. I remember we were sitting at the foul line, and LeBron James, he was like, man, I followed you in college. You remember that time I came to Philly at the Palestra to watch you play? And I was like, yeah, I remember. He was like, man, you want to come play with Cleveland? I thought he was just doing a veteran trick. (...) I thought he was just trying to get me out of my game by getting familiarity. But he was serious. He asked me to come play with Cleveland."
Was there ever a piece of you that wanted to say, “You know what, I just really want to go back to Cleveland?” Dean Wade: Yeah, absolutely. I was so comfortable there. A lot of my life happened in Cleveland. Part of me definitely wanted to go back because that’s where my life was and I had so many great, genuine relationships there with teammates, team personnel, and so many others. On the other side of things, it was kind of just time for me to go somewhere else and write the next chapter of my career by experiencing something new. There was definitely that feeling, but overall, I knew it was time to move on and see what else was out there.
Acquiring Watson was complicated, especially given his status as a restricted free agent and the salary cap situations of both Denver and Cleveland. As part of the agreement, Watson, who will wear No. 8 in Cleveland, is signing a four-year, $88 million contract that includes a player option and trade kicker. It took five teams to complete the deal — Cleveland, Charlotte, Denver, Washington and the Los Angeles Clippers. It also cost the Cavaliers two every-night rotational players in Strus and Schröder. “Over the past several seasons, Max became an important part of our team, our culture, and our identity,” Altman said of Strus. “His professionalism, toughness, competitiveness, and leadership helped shape the standard we have established here, and his impact went well beyond what he did on the court.”
During his time in Cleveland, Schröder appeared in 30 games, averaging 8.2 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds while serving as the team’s primary backup point guard. “Dennis made an immediate impact after joining us at the trade deadline, bringing experience, toughness, and leadership to our group,” Altman said of Schröder. “His contributions helped us reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018, and we are grateful for everything he gave the Cavaliers during his time here.”
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Jake Fischer: Cleveland, to my understanding, has been orchestrating all the separate pieces of this trade. It’s slated to end up as a five-team concept, sources say, that combines the Cavaliers landing Peyton Watson with trading out Dennis Schroeder to Charlotte into one large transaction.
Shams Charania: Denver, Cleveland and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and agents Lucas Newton and Calvin Andrews finalized the new home Wednesday in a difficult restricted free agency landscape -- with Watson's reps navigating interest and offers from the Bucks, Trail Blazers and Clippers before narrowing on the guaranteed $88M deal with the Cavaliers.
Bobby Marks: Notes for Cleveland - Sign-and-trade hard caps them at the first apron - Prior to re-signing James Harden, they are roughly $29M below the first apron - They have no tradeable firsts available right now
Chris Haynes: BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets are near a deal that will send restricted free agent Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade, league sources tell me.
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After agreeing Friday to trade Schröder to Charlotte, Cleveland remains in active search of a trade to send out Max Strus as Strus enters the final year of his current contract at $16.7 million, league sources say.
Chris Fedor: #Cavs sent about $4 million to Charlotte as incentive for the Hornets to take on Dennis Schroder’s contract, sources tell @clevelanddotcom . Cleveland didn’t want to include draft capital in a Schroder deal — and avoided doing it
Bobby Marks: Swapping out Dennis Schroder for Tre Mann creates savings below the apron for Cleveland. First apron: $32m below Second apron: $44m below The figures do not include a new contract for James Harden. For now, Cleveland is likely to have the $6.1m tax midlevel exception. A sign-and-trade (incoming salary) hard caps them at apron 1.
This season, Cleveland will have 16 sets of back-to-backs, a trio of four-game homestands, a lengthy six-game road trip (March 9-18), four holiday games (Halloween, Veterans Day, New Year’s Eve and MLK Day) and five matinees. James comes to Cleveland with the Sixers twice (Nov. 6 and March 1) this season. The Cavs pursued him in free agency this summer, hoping for a third stint with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003. Former Cavalier Darius Garland will return to Cleveland for the first time since being traded for James Harden last February, with that visit scheduled for Dec. 31. The Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs visit for the only time on Dec. 15.