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Team sources say he'll be back soon, but there could be delay to evaluate roster options
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
CLEVELAND: The Anderson Varejao contract saga has been unexpected, uncharted and generally hard to explain.
So, apparently, will be the resolution.
After months of being unable to get a deal done with the Cavaliers, Varejao accepted a three-year, $17.4 million offer sheet from the Charlotte Bobcats late Monday, Varejao's agent, Dan Fegan, said. The deal has an opt-out clause after two seasons, which is the key part of the deal.
Because Varejao is a restricted free agent, the Cavs have the right to match the offer in the next seven days. The team did not make a public comment Tuesday because the offer sheet did not arrive by the end of business.
But team sources said the Cavs will match the offer and Varejao will likely be with the team within the next week.
However, there's a chance the team will wait a few days to do so as it evaluates options with the roster. The Cavs currently have the maximum of 15 players on the roster and would prefer not to cut a player, so they might seek to move a player or players through a trade before matching the offer.
There have been plenty of offers and supposed offers by the Cavs and Varejao since July. Tens of millions of dollars apart when talking about four- or five-year deals, the sides eventually started focusing on the length of the contract more than dollars. This is largely because Varejao's side seemed more focused on when he could become a free agent again instead of the value of the contract.
Since the start of the regular season, Varejao's camp has been seeking a one-year contract. Such a deal would have allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The shortest term the Cavs would offer was three years and $20 million.
Varejao rejected a one-year, $1.2 million ''qualifying'' offer in October.
The Bobcats, who are struggling during a six-game losing streak and desperate for big men due to injuries, ended up providing the compromise in a desperate measure to acquire a big man. The Bobcats were willing to allow Varejao out of the contract after two seasons and willing to use their full mid-level salary exception of $5.3 million, even though they could've prorated the deal and saved about $1.2 million for the time Varejao has missed.
Before going to the offer sheet, the Bobcats attempted to
work out a sign-and-trade with the Cavs to get Varejao, but were unable to work anything out. Sources said several other teams looked to make a sign-and-trade deal, including the Sacramento Kings, who were offering Mike Bibby.
''At this point in time, with the players that are available, we just felt we could use our assets . . . to acquire, hopefully, a viable piece,'' Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins told the Charlotte Observer.
The Cavs will now have to accept those terms and face losing Varejao after the 2008-09 season. But passing on the Cavs' three-year deal cost Varejao about $1 million in the next two years and potentially more if things don't work out in his favor. But if they do, Varejao might end up making that money back and more when he hits the market in two years.
There has been some harsh talk behind the scenes and in the media in the last few months, as there often is during contentious contract negotiations. Quite often, when restricted free agents have their offer sheets matched, there is a period of healing. Varejao will also have some explaining to do to his teammates, many of whom were upset when he told ESPN.com that ''I don't think I'll be happy in Cleveland knowing that I was the lowest-paid player there for three years and am still paid much less than players on the team that I outperform.''
He'll also have some healing do with the fans after saying he didn't want to play in Cleveland anymore.
''That's one of our teammates,'' Drew Gooden said. ''Besides any comments he made, we'll welcome him back with open arms.''
''At the end of the day, we play basketball and that's everybody's job,'' Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. ''And we get paid to win games. Everybody's just going to have to get on the same page and everybody's a grown man.''
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
CLEVELAND: The Anderson Varejao contract saga has been unexpected, uncharted and generally hard to explain.
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