INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Other than the peace of mind it will allow him to play with this season, Larry Nance Jr.'s contract extension won't have much of an immediate impact for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After all, Nance's four-year deal with a reported $45 million won't go into effect until the 2019-20 season.
In a way, that's fitting, considering Cleveland's decision to extend the 25-year-old big man is more about the team's future than it is the present. For one, the Cavs now have arguably their three most important players -- Nance, All-Star forward Kevin Love and rookie point guard Collin Sexton -- under team control through at least the 2022-23 season.
"This summer when we drafted Collin and re-signed Kevin, it was like, 'all right, that's pretty awesome,'" Nance said following practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Tuesday, one day prior to the team's season opener vs. the Toronto Raptors. "It's an honor to be a part of that. It's an honor that [Cavs GM Koby Altman] and [Cavs owner Dan Gilbert] and everybody thinks highly enough to include me and be a part of it and I'm thrilled to be so."
Perhaps more telling, however, are the structures of both Nance's new deal and the $120 million four-year extension Love signed earlier this offseason.
According to Spotrac.com, both Love and Nance's salaries will actually decrease over the course of their new contracts -- in Love's case moving from $31.2 million to $28.9 million from Year 3 to 4, while Nance's deal will decrease from $12.7 million to $9.6 million over the course of its life.
That's not a coincidence.
Nor is it a coincidence that the NBA's salary cap is expected to make a sizable leap in both the 2020 and 2021 offseasons with a projected jumps from the current cap of $101 million to $109 million in 2020 and $118 million in 2021, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
As "fate" would have it, 2020 just so happens to be the same offseason the Cavs will see their largest salaries leave their books. As currently constructed, Cleveland only has four players under contract past the 2019-20 campaign: Love, Nance and Sexton, as well as a $3.8 million option for reserve center Ante Zizic.
So what does this all mean?
While the Cavs have added $165 million in long-term this offseason, their options for the future very much remain open. Although Cleveland may never be a big player -- at least with the A-list targets -- on the free agent market, its upcoming cap space should afford the Cavs with plenty of creativity for when it will be most useful.
Furthermore, while the team has insisted its goal for the coming season is to make the playoffs, those plans are always subject to change. And should the Cavs, in fact, wind up with a pick toward the top of the 2019 draft, they'd be well positioned to add a potential franchise player to a core they've already invested plenty in.
Especially in a mid-market like Cleveland, there's no one way to build an NBA contender. And while the Cavs may be hesitant to use the word "rebuild," this past offseason has shown an emphasized focus on both flexibility and the future.
