Cavaliers offseason primer: The uncertainty of Donovan Mitchell’s future

Of the top-end rotation players, only one – starting wing Isaac Okoro – has free agency to contend with this summer. Every other regular starter and significant bench player has guaranteed money into 2024/25, and often beyond. Unless there is a Mitchell trade, then, there might not be a high roster turnover this summer in Cleveland.

Between them, Mitchell ($35,410,310), fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland ($36,725,670) and starting center Jarrett Allen ($20,000,000) take up not far short of $100 million, the price of doing business once rookie scale contracts run out. Beyond them, Caris LeVert ($16,615,384) and Max Strus ($15,212,068) both received sizeable contracts last summer (albeit to essentially play the same position), while the only other bench contributors on salaries above the minimum are Georges Niang ($8,500,000) and Dean Wade ($6,166,667).

The Cavaliers are in a healthy salary cap position where they have no bad contracts. Everyone can be moved if needs be and needs right now do not be. They can therefore facilitate trades without being overburdened by tax and apron pressures, maximizing their range of hypotheticals, and although most of their draft capital is still outstanding after the trade that first brought Mitchell in, the cap picture and the staggered expirations of the important contracts offsets much of that.