With J.R. Smith re-signed and Mike Dunleavy now on the roster, is Iman Shumpert expendable to the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Cleveland, for its part, isn’t quite sure. But it seems to be leaning toward yes, according to ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe:
Still: Keep an eye on Iman Shumpert. Several teams, including Minnesota, have inquired about his availability in the past few weeks and gotten the impression Cleveland is ready to talk, according to several league sources. The Cavs won’t salary-dump Shump for nothing, but given their tax situation, cutting payroll by a few million promises exponential savings.
Shumpert is owed around $31 million over the next three years, including almost $9.7 million this season, and the Cavaliers’ salary mushroomed to $114 million in guaranteed commitments, with the likely prospect of rising above $120 million, before paying Smith. Their luxury-tax bill is going to be insane, and Shumpert, while a three-and-D asset in theory, has battled injuries his entire career. He didn’t help his case by shooting under 30 percent from downtown during the regular season, either.
But the Cavaliers are kind of flimsy in the backcourt even with Shumpert. Kyrie Irving is the only known commodity at point guard, and he’s not exactly a beacon of good health himself. LeBron James can and will handle a bulk of the playmaking duties, but even if you view Irving as the backup point guard of sorts, you’re still at the risk of staggering his minutes with LeBron and, more harrowingly, him staying healthy for the entire year.
Shumpert can at least be used as a backup point guard. His handles are okay, and he’s never gotten the chance to develop his vision, save for a brief stint at point guard with the Mike D’Antoni-coached New York Knicks.
For the sake of worst-case-scenario depth, the Cavaliers are better off holding on to Shumpert unless they’re receiving a solution to their backup point guard quandary in return.
