Cavs pick up contract options for Kyrie Irving, 3 others
By Brad Rowland
Sometimes, there is drama around whether an NBA team will pick up a team option on a player’s rookie contract (see Derrick Williams), and sometimes, that move falls into the category of “no-brainers”.
Cavaliers exercise fourth-year options on Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson and third-year options on Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) October 23, 2013
As one of the best 20 players (to be conservative) in the NBA today, Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving is the epitome of a no-brainer with regard to the team keeping his contract under control. After all, Irving’s contract will never be more manageable than it is under his rookie terms ($7.1 million for 2014-2015), and after a season when he averaged 22.5 points and 5.9 assists per game, he’s one of the better values in the league.
The other trio of players extended by the Cavs are all young, relatively cheap commodities. Thompson is a developing player who happens to be one of the biggest stories in the preseason (mostly due to his hand-switching routine at the free throw line), while Waiters and Zeller haven’t blown anyone away (each with a PER under 14 last season), but are each following solid tracks in their developmental stages as under-25 players.
It remains to be seen whether the Cavs will actually compete for the playoffs in the East this year (it’s time to start praying for health for guys like Irving and Anderson Varejao), but they have a nice young core of talent, and that group will be around for at least one more season.