Cavaliers GM Koby Altman Agrees to New Long-Term Contract

General manager Koby Altman has agreed to a long-term extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team announced on Friday. 

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the deal. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Altman was hired by Cleveland in July 2017 to replace David Griffin, who had helped the franchise win its first-ever championship in 2015-16. Immediately upon being hired, Altman had to deal with Kyrie Irving's trade demand.

Irving was ultimately traded to the Boston Celtics in August 2017 in exchange for guard Isaiah Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 first-round pick, which wound up becoming the eighth overall pick. The Cavs used that pick to select guard Collin Sexton.

That trade has earned the approval of owner Dan Gilbert, who told the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto in May that "we killed it in that trade."

Cleveland made the NBA Finals in Altman's first year on the job thanks to four-time NBA MVP LeBron James. Since James left in free agency in the summer of 2018, though, Altman has been tasked with a rebuild.

Among his most notable moves of the rebuild, Altman has drafted both Sexton and guard Darius Garland (fifth overall in 2019). He has also hired head coach John Beilein, who had led the Michigan Wolverines to a pair of national championship game appearances (2013 and 2018) in the last seven years.

He also signed five-time All-Star Kevin Love to a four-year extension in July 2018.

The 37-year-old Altman was reportedly in the final year of his three-year deal. Per Wojnarowski, it marks the first time Gilbert—who bought the Cavs in 2005—has given a general manager an extension.