They already have a lot of bad contracts. JR Smith, Tristan Thompson, George Hill, Clarkson, Korver, etc. They are years away from hitting the minimum.
They should tank. Instead they will win 35-40 games this year and be in the late lottery.
Those contracts come off the books by 2020. If they keep Love for the full length of his new deal they'll have a bunch of rookie/mid-level deals around him and be nowhere close to the 90% spending rule. That's why his deal isn't that bad.
But really, he's going to get traded this season after he puts up a 23/12/5 line.
The Smith and Hill contracts have only small, partial guarantees for 2019-20, so Cleveland can cut them and create a bunch of cap space next offseason.
Still, Dan Gilbert is a shitty owner who meddles too much with basketball affairs. So it probably doesn't matter.
It might be such a stupid deal, that it's smart. It ties all of their money into a slow nonathletic 4. This could be seen as a tank job to scoop up multiple lotto picks like Philly did. When Love's contract expires, that team could be loaded with young talent and huge cap space as long as they keep losing. I actually "love" this move.
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Still, Dan Gilbert is a shitty owner who meddles too much with basketball affairs. So it probably doesn't matter.