Sasha Kaun signs with Cleveland Cavaliers
Smith declined his $6.8 million player option following the season. The Cavaliers had things they needed to do in order to piece together a championship caliber roster.
The 30-year old center’s deal is for two years with a player option for the second year, Northeast Ohio Media Group is being told. I ended up deciding that instead of potentially securing a larger deal elsewhere, I wanted to rejoin an incredible organization in pursuit of the ultimate goal, an National Basketball Association championship.
The Cavs are still hoping to sign forward Tristan Thompson, a restricted free agent. He averaged 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks on 62 percent shooting in 40 games for the Jayhawks in his senior season. It also helps that Smith gets along so well with the teams star, LeBron James.
Kaun went to high school in Florida and played four seasons at the University of Kansas. After backing away from a one-year $6.4 million contract earlier this summer, Thompson has now backed out of a five-year $80 million contract.
Despite LeBron James’ comment on how valuable Thompson is to the team, the Cavaliers might be starting to look for a way out of the sticky situation.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers losing Kendrick Perkins in free agency and with Anderson Varejao’s injury problems throughout his career, Cavaliers could use another center in Sasha Kaun.
Some of possible trade partners for the Cavaliers involving Thompson are the player’s hometown team Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns with Markieff Morris as its trade chip, and the Portland Trail Blazers armed with the cap space to absorb Thompson’ contract. It’s far more likely that he expected a reasonably active market for his services and encountered little interest.