Cavs' Updated Salary Cap After Evan Mobley's Contract Extension Worth Up to $269M

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Evan Mobley have agreed to a five-year, $224 million maximum rookie contract extension, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday.

The deal could be worth up to $269 million if Mobley makes the All-NBA team in 2024-25, per Wojnarowski and CapSheets' Yossi Gozlan.

Mobley is set to play 2024-25 on a $11.2 million club option. The Cavaliers are currently projected to have $9.7 million in space below the luxury tax next season, per Spotrac.

Mobley's reported $38.7 million salary for 2025-26 will put the Cavaliers above the luxury tax threshold, but Cleveland is projected to remain below the highly restrictive second apron of the tax, Gozlan noted.

According to Spotrac, the Cavaliers are currently projected to have just over $11.7 million in first apron space, and $23.6 million in second apron space, in 2025-26.

The team is also projected to have $7.4 million in luxury tax space that season, per Spotrac.

That projected wiggle room despite the increase in Mobley's annual salary is due in part to the projected rise of the NBA salary cap, as noted by ESPN's Bobby Marks.

Mobley's extension locks in the Cavaliers' star trio through at least 2028.

Darius Garland is heading into the second season of the five-year, $197 million deal he inked with the Cavaliers in 2022, while Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension to keep him in Cleveland through 2029 earlier this month.

Those price tags will look less restrictive for the Cavaliers' cap situation in upcoming seasons. The cap is expected to increase by 10 percent per year, the maximum allowed under the current CBA, amid increasing media revenue.

That will allow the Cavaliers room to continue building the roster despite committing more than $38 million each member of the team's star trio.

The Cavaliers led the NBA in luxury tax payments between 2015 and 2017, paying out an NBA-high $54 million following their 2015 championship season, per Spotrac. The team has not crossed the luxury tax threshold since their most recent trip to the NBA Finals in 2018.

That could be set to change in 2025-26 if the Cavs pay to build a championship-caliber roster around their star trio. The cost will be worth it, especially if the Cavaliers are able to stay avoid the trade, draft and free agency restrictions mandated by the second apron, if Mobley, Garland and Mitchell can lead Cleveland on another deep playoff run for the first time since the LeBron James era.