The Cleveland Cavaliers have made some mistakes in free agency that have been very costly for the franchise. Here are the biggest three.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have not always had the best track record in free agency. They are a small market team which has often forced them to overpay for players during their history. In both LeBron eras, the Cleveland Cavs overpaid for talent to surround the King with a semi-respectable roster and found themselves paying the price later on.
Cavaliers biggest free-agent mistakes: 3. J.R Smith
In the summer of 2016, the cap exploded and pretty much every team in the league that was not the Warriors were worse off because of it. This included the Cavs, coming off winning a title over the Warriors. J.R Smith was a key contributor on that team and ended up signing for a four-year, $57 million deal. This contract did have a non-guaranteed portion in the fourth year of the deal but this cost the Cavs a lot.
Due to contracts like this, Cleveland was poorly equipped to respond to the Warriors signing Kevin Durant. Smith would never average over 10 points in a season after signing the contract and the Cavs would end up waiving him. He ended up having a small part in why the Lakers were able to win the 2020 championship, in a reduced role.
Cavaliers biggest free-agent mistakes: 2. Kevin Love
After LeBron James left for Cleveland, the Cavs wanted to keep at least some talent in Cleveland no matter the long-term outcome. Love would sign a long-term deal for four years and $120 million. This contract was a clear overpay at the time. After the first two years of the deal, Love's play declined heavily.
In the last year of his deal, he was playing out of the rotation and wanted out of Cleveland. He ended up getting bought out in the final year of the deal. He is currently excelling for the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. The former star has been playing a lot better in a reduced role for the title contender where he is able to create efficient offense for the Heat.
Love is a Cleveland legend and will have his number retired by the Cavs, but the reaction to LeBron leaving led the Cavs to one of their worst contracts of all time. The optics of the situation certainly forced the Cavs to extend the former All-Star but signing him to a contract that was near the max for four long years was not the brightest idea.
Cavaliers biggest free-agent mistakes: 1. Larry Hughes
The Cavs gave Larry Hughes $65 million dollars over five years in 2005 after failing to get better talent to build around LeBron James. This is widely known as one of the worst contracts in Cavs' history. Hughes produced bad shooting numbers in his only two years in Cleveland. He would never shoot above 42 percent from the field during his career.
The Cavs repeatedly overpaid for middling talent during their first stint with James. The fact that the second-best player on the Cavs' 2007 Finals team was arguably Larry Hughes is the reason that fans of LeBron say that he did not have any help during his first run with the Cavs.
The veteran would end up being traded to the Bulls for Ben Wallace along with other veteran players. This was a washed-up Ben Wallace and was a follow-up to a bunch of other bad moves that the Cavs made during the late 2000s.
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