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2025 Free Agents - Dean Wade

Wade became a regular rotation player for the Cavs in '20-'21 and has been an efficient role player, hitting 37% of his 3s on 58% true shooting. He mostly lives behind the arc, with over two out of every three of his field goal attempts being three-pointers for his career, including a whopping 84% being 3s in '23-'24. Wade can provide some value as a stretch-four, but that's about all he will provide. He isn't a great passer and can't create for himself or others off-the-dribble. The vast majority of his makes are assisted. Defensively, Wade is slightly undersized for a center and can't provide any rim protection, so the idea of playing him as a stretch-five is unlikely. He also doesn't rebound all that well. Wade has proven that he belongs in the league and can provide reliable minutes during the regular season, but he's probably not more than a 9th-man type. He has also struggled to stay healthy, missing over 30 games per season on average over the past four seasons.

Summary

Wade's' $6.6 million salary for 2025-2026 is only $4.6 million guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Cavaliers will have no form of Bird rights on him. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so. If Wade becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If Wade is waived and clears waivers, his value may have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.

Cap Considerations

Trey Lyles (2 years, $16 million, 2023) Kenrich Williams (4-1 years, $27 million, 2022) Kevin Love (2 years, $8 million, 2024)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Cavaliers, 76ers, Clippers, Spurs, Wizards

Predicted Contract: Not waived: $6.6 million
If waived: 1-year, $2.9 million ($2.3 million cap hit) with the 76ers

Last updated: 8/29/2024

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