Monday, July 4, 2022

Cavaliers sign Darius Garland to max extension

 The Cleveland Cavaliers may not have made a decision on the future of Collin Sexton but they have decided on their commitment to Darius Garland as the Cavaliers gave their young point guard the maximum contract extension to keep Garland in Cleveland for the next five seasons.

Garland's contract is worth 193 million and with various escalators and bonuses involved, may be valued at 231 million dollars for the term of the contract, which is the largest in Cavalier franchise history.

The largest escalator for Garland is that should he make any of the three All-NBA teams twice during the term of the contract, Garland would then be eligible for a "Super Max" contract and additional dollars would be added to the agreement.

The NBA salary cap specifies what a max extension can be for a particular draft class, which is why Cleveland will be paying Garland, who was selected fifth overall in the 2019 draft, will be receiving the same amount of money as the second overall pick in the same draft Ja Morant will earn from the Memphis Grizzlies.

What I really like about the max contract agreement between the league and the union is this- players know the maximum that they can make, have no complaint about being cheated out of money by the teams, have a certain amount of guarantee against injury, and yet the player is still motivated by even larger money in their next contract.

Garland broke out as a star for Cleveland last season when he averaged over twenty-one points and over eight assists per game to lead the team in both categories.

It's Garland that is the go-to player in clutch situations and it will be key to see how Garland handles being the alpha dog in the lineup with his paycheck backing that status up.

Late in the season with the Cavaliers struggling and injury-wracked, Garland grabbed hold of the reigns and began to be the number one option late in games, often singlehandedly keeping the Cavaliers in games.

While I liked Garland's willingness to take that role and take the big shots, I did (and do) wonder if that was a player doing what it took for his team to stay in games or is Garland transitioning into a player that is relying on isolation plays for him, which can result into teams doing a lot of watching the action rather than moving with or without the ball.

I tend to think that it was the former but I've seen stranger things than the latter happen to younger players.

Cleveland's commitment to Darius Garland shows that the team has faith in Garland's future and although there is always a certain percentage of risk involved with five-year contracts, players such as Darius Garland have proven as much as they could prove in three years as a pro and teams need to show that they have faith in the player's ability to continue to progress by putting their money where their mouth is.

At 22, Darius Garland is being counted as the foundation (along with Evan Mobley) of the Cavaliers future as contenders.

By the end of this contract, the Cavaliers will either be championship contenders or huge disappointments.

The countdown starts now.




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