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As first reported by Marc Stein of The New York Times, the Cavs have agreed to a four-year extension worth almost $31 million with third-year forward Cedi Osman. Osman, 24, was set to be a restricted free agent next summer.
As detailed by the Early Bird Rights’ Jeff Siegel, Osman’s extension starts at $8.75 million next year and then deescalates from there through the 2023-24 season. And as reported by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the last year of the deal — worth $6.65 million — is non-guaranteed.
Fear the Sword has independently confirmed the details of Osman’s agreement with multiple sources.
This is a fair deal for both Osman and the Cavs. For Osman, it’s maybe a bit less than he was looking for. But it’s still a good amount of money considering he hasn’t yet had a breakout season yet. For his career, he’s averaging 9 points, 1.7 assists and 3.5 assists per game.
For the team, this is a deal that does cost them $1.4 million in cap space next summer. But it also locks up a player as part of the team’s core along with Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Larry Nance Jr. And since the deal goes down year-to-year, the Cavs will have some cap flexibility work with after next summer. That could come in handy if/when new deals come for Collin Sexton and perhaps players like Tristan Thompson next summer.
The deal is also like Nance Jr. and Kevin Love’s in that is goes down overtime, an interesting wrinkle in Koby Altman’s roster building strategy. It’s interesting too that Osman, like Kings guard Buddy Hield and Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, signed an extension now instead of next summer as part of a weak free agent class.
All in all, this is a good deal for the player and team. Osman gets financial security and the Cavs have a player they like locked up.