The Cleveland Cavaliers are closing in on signing Max Strus to a free agent deal, but due to the fact that Cleveland is over the cap, they will need to work out a sign-and-trade to get the deal completed.
According to Jake Fischer, this could include the Spurs as a third team in order to make the deal work. San Antonio would be taking on Cedi Osman in order to make a deal work.
The Cavs are a team that struggled in the half-court this season despite trading for Donovan Mitchell last offseason. They made the playoffs but were unable to get past the first round due to the offensive stagnation.
What would be the ramifications for all the teams involved in the deal?
Very quickly, the Spurs would be able to get a solid wing in Cedi Osman for particularly nothing. This would be good for a team that really wasn't really able to get a lot in free agency. They were able to re-sign Tre Jones but they have not done anything else.
This would allow the Spurs to surround Victor Wembanyama with a solid wing that could be extended long-term. The Cavs are very limited in what they were able to get in free agency this offseason.
Strus will need to provide himself once again this season. Still with that in mind, this was a solid move for Cleveland. The Cavs could not really make any moves in free agency but were able to replace one of their wings with an offensive creator.
For the Heat, they are able to get some assets when they weren't going to re-sign Strus anyways due to the fact that they are well over the cap. They were able to replace Strus with Josh Richardson who they hope can recapture his excellence within their culture, where he has previously had success. If he can, he could replace Strus's scoring while providing quality wing defense.
