Jerami Grant Rumors: Forward Likely Out of Cavs' Price Range After Bubble Play

As they look to strengthen their roster this offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers might have to aim lower than veteran forward Jerami Grant.

Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor reported Monday the Cavs "were prepared to take a run" at Grant but that the way he played toward the end of 2019-20 "likely pushed him out of their price range."

Following the NBA's restart in August, Grant averaged 15.6 points and shot 52.6 percent from the field. He continued to be effective in the playoffs, averaging 11.6 points and 3.3 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets reached the Western Conference Finals.

In addition to spacing the floor for Denver, the 26-year-old held opponents to 29.8 percent on three-pointers last season, per NBA.com.

Grant has earned the three-and-D designation, making him an obvious target for a Cavs team in desperate need of an upgrade on the wing. As Fedor wrote, however, financial flexibility isn't something Cleveland will have.

The franchise was on pace to have a lot of salary cap space before acquiring Andre Drummond from the Detroit Pistons. Assuming Drummond picks up his $28.8 million player option, he basically qualifies as the Cavaliers' marquee offseason addition.

The Athletic's Danny Leroux explained how general manager Koby Altman has his hands tied:

"The immediate future is pretty challenging as the Cavs have $107.2 million in guaranteed obligations if Andre Drummond picks up his player option as expected — and that is even before counting the fifth pick in the 2020 draft. That means Cleveland will function as an over-the-cap team unless they offload salaries already on their books into another team’s cap space or exception."

Fedor reported there's a "50-50" chance Tristan Thompson, who's an unrestricted free agent, returns to Cleveland. The Cavs can go over the cap to re-sign Thompson, but bringing him back would further limit what else they could do.

Leroux noted the $10 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception might be available to Altman. Based on how much Grant's value benefited from Denver's playoff run, that might not be enough to get him to Northeast Ohio.