Okoro could “easily” take one-year qualifying offer with Cavs
An Okoro trade with Brooklyn seems unlikely at this point.
Isaac Okoro’s restricted free agency is one of the few remaining things the Cleveland Cavaliers have to figure out at this point of the offseason. They’ve extended three members of their core, found a new head coach, and drafted someone they believe in with Jaylon Tyson. Their next step seems to be finding a resolution for Okoro’s restricted free agency that keeps them under the tax line or first apron. As of now, the Cavs are $9.7 million under the luxury tax and $17 million under the first apron.
There has been speculation and reports that the Cavs were looking to sign-and-trade Okoro last month. That hasn’t come to fruition so far. The Brooklyn Nets have been rumored as a trade partner as recently as this week. These situations are fluid, but as of now that may not be on the table.
Jake Fisher of Yahoo Sports recently stated on the No Cap Room podcast on the Ball Don’t Lie feed that he doesn’t believe an Okoro trade with Brooklyn ever got off the ground. Okoro returning with the Cavs is to most likely option.
I know there was some reporting about there being a Nets package idea where [Okoro] would go to Brooklyn and there’ll be something with Dorian Finney-Smith going back. I don’t think those talks got really really substantial to my understanding. I just don’t think it can even happen right now after the salary stuff has all shifted out. I don’t think Brooklyn has the room to make that happen. And bringing back Dorian’s like $14 million would be challenging for that first apron stuff that we’re talking about with Cleveland in general.
I think Okoro could very easily take that one-year qualifying offer.
We’ll see how this situation gets resolved. Koby Altman has a history of pulling off moves late in the summer, like the Lauri Markkanen and Donovan Mitchell trades, with little to no reporting before going through. A similar thing happened with Allen’s recent extension as well.
Okoro’s qualifying offer is for one year and $11.8 million. He is able to sign that offer and because an unrestricted free agent next summer.
There’s also the possibility he and the Cavs can work out a long-term deal, execute a sign-and-trade to a team elsewhere, or sign an offer sheet with another team. Signing an offer sheet with another team seems like the most unlikely option given how late we are in the summer and the amount of teams that have the flexibility to do that at this point of the off-season.
As of now, it seems as if Okoro is staying in Cleveland. The question is how that comes together.