Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro is still remaining on the free-agent market and has seemed to generate very little interest from other teams.
Okoro is a restricted free agent, so the Cavaliers can match any offer made to the former No. 5 overall pick.
During a recent episode of the Wine & Gold Podcast, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com provided an update on the status of Okoro, saying that not much has changed for the 23-year-old.
“Teams have had an opportunity to use their cap space on Isaac, and they have chosen not to,” Fedor said.
Fedor went on to say that Cleveland has “a ton of leverage” and that the Cavs have made an offer to Okoro.
“I’m not sure what the offer is specifically that the Cavs have made to Isaac,” he said. They believe that it’s a fair offer. It’s a multi-year offer. … The sense that I get in talking to people around the NBA is that it’s a multi-year offer in the annual range of $8 to $10 million.”
Fedor adds that if Okoro is looking for around $12-15 million (which is around the mid-level exception), the Cavaliers would probably move on.
Okoro is coming off of a 2023-24 campaign in which he played 69 games and averaged 9.4 points and three rebounds over 27.3 minutes per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor, 39.1 percent from three-point range and 67.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Cleveland’s reluctance to pay Okoro $12-15 million annually over multiple years is certainly understandable given the fact that the club has already handed out max deals to Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley and also has Jarrett Allen on the books for $20 million per year through 2026.
The Cavs did tend an $11.8 million qualifying offer to Okoro, which may actually represent his best bet at this point. The Cavaliers would certainly be amenable to having the Auburn product back at that salary for just one season.
There has also been speculation that Cleveland could try to sign-and-trade Okoro, although though those rumors have simmered, perhaps due to lack of interest in Okoro around the league.
Many have soured on Okoro as a result of his putrid performance in the playoffs this past spring and because he simply has not progressed like Cavs fans had hoped since he was drafted in 2020.
Plus, the Cavaliers are in dire need of a larger swingman who can defend the bigger wings in the Eastern Conference, and at 6-foot-5, Okoro doesn’t really present that option for Cleveland.
