Cleveland Cavaliers Make History With This Interesting Move

The Cleveland Cavaliers waived Ricky Rubio last January, and shortly after, the former point guard announced his retirement from the NBA.

But now, the Cavaliers are making a historic move involving the Spanish legend.

Keith Smith of Spotrac reports that Cleveland has become the first team to utilize the delayed stretch of a waived player, which is a feature under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement.

The Cavs took $1.3 million in dead money for Rubio and stretched it to $425,000 per year over the next three seasons.

As a result, the Cavaliers are now $10.6 million under the luxury tax without Isaac Okoro’s qualifying offered factored into the equation. If Okoro accepts his $11.8 million qualifying offer, Cleveland will then be about $1.2 million over the tax.

Either way, this Rubio move opens some monetary relief for the Cavs, who are not exactly in the best financial situation heading into the 2024-25 campaign.

Rubio played two seasons for the Cavaliers in 2021-22 and 2022-23, playing in a grand total of 67 games between the two campaigns.

The 33-year-old’s most productive year in Cleveland came in his first season with the club, as he averaged 13.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals over 28.5 minutes per game while shooting 36.3 percent from the floor, 33.9 percent from three-point range and 85.4 percent from teh free-throw line.

Rubio also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns throughout his 12-year NBA career, registering lifetime averages of 10.8 points and 7.4 assists per game.