Chris Fedor on Andre Drummond: Everybody else that I’ve talked to around the NBA thinks that he would be crazy to opt out.
Andre Drummond Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 08/10/93
Height: 6-10 / 2.08
Weight:270 lbs. / 122.5 kg.
Salary: $27,093,018
Born: 08/10/93
Height: 6-10 / 2.08
Weight:270 lbs. / 122.5 kg.
Salary: $27,093,018
While the salary cap and luxury tax need to be cleared up, Andre Drummond controls the team’s offseason with his $28.7 million player option. Not even Bickerstaff knows what Drummond wants to do. “I have not asked him, ‘Hey man, are you opting in or opting out?’ But the conversations we’ve had have been positive,” Bickerstaff told cleveland.com. “Indirectly those conversations have been about the future, what next year is going to look like, how he wants to be part of the team and how we can use him effectively and all those things.
Everyone on the roster is scattered across the country, so is there someone that you’ve stayed in closest contact with during this offseason? Andre Drummond: “Yeah. Definitely Darius Garland for sure is someone I have spent a lot of time with over these months. Larry, Kevin and I’ve seen Collin a few times. Kevin Porter has come down to work with me. Earlier in like June, he came and stayed with me for a week to work out. Other than that, I’ve talked to everyone fairly often. We’re all on a group chat and we all check in on each other.” Well, you brought it up, saying you want to help Porter take his game to the next level. That would require you being with the Cavs. Does that mean you’ve made the decision to pick up your option already? Andre Drummond: “As of right now I’m just focusing on what I can worry about. Working on my game. Right now, just worrying about what’s happening with the next couple of months, before the season. Whenever it’s time to start, and when that time does come to make that decision, everybody will know. Right now, I’m a Cleveland Cavalier. In terms of extending, we will find that out when the time comes around.”
And despite saying back in June that he planned to stay in Cleveland, Drummond is now hedging. “I’m at a point now in my career where I spent the last eight years in Detroit, and I’m looking forward to the new start. If it’s with the Cavs, fantastic,” Drummond told Cleveland.com. “If” is a strong word in this instance, and a well-informed league source told BasketballNews.com that Drummond is genuinely undecided about exercising his player option.
Let’s get this one out of the way first. Drummond’s name suddenly popped up in the rumor mill as someone the Celtics are keeping an eye on in case he and the Cavs can’t reach an agreement. There are just too many reasons to dive into why Drummond to Boston doesn’t make sense, but the internet is a boundless resource so let’s dig in!
I wasn’t even aware of the Drummond rumors until league sources started texting about how wild a move it would be. As one source familiar with Drummond noted, the former All-Star would either finally put it all together to turn into an unstoppable force, or Marcus Smart will yell at him for being soft until he eventually asks for a trade.
With all this in mind, the Drummond situation in Cleveland is only going to become even more uncomfortable this offseason. It already has been uncomfortable at times, according to league sources. Drummond is eligible for an extension this offseason and when the Cavaliers obtained him at the deadline, his Bird Rights came with him as well. This means that Cleveland could extend Drummond up to five years at a higher rate compared to what he can get on the open market, about $34.5 million annually. According to league sources, both Drummond and the Cavaliers have been discussing a possible extension for a while now. But, according to those same sources, there’s a noticeable gap in terms of how much money both sides are willing to agree to.
