The Cavs can’t afford to trade Ricky Rubio’s contract

The Cavs quite literally can’t afford trading Ricky Rubio’s contract.

There’s a lot of people online right now talking about the idea of trading Ricky Rubio’s contract, despite the point guard being injured. NBA guidelines don’t disallow this, and with his deal expiring, the Cavaliers could dangle it out to another team as bait to get a deal with two or three years left on it. This idea makes sense if the Cavaliers aren’t interested in keeping Rubio.

Yet, here comes the problem, many fans seem to think the Cavs can just trade Rubio’s deal and then re-sign him as a free agent in the offseason. While that is possible, in theory, it’s not going to be possible in practicality. Rubio could sign for the mid-level exception and return to the Cavs, sure, but Rubio earned himself another two or three years of $30 to $45 million after his play in Cleveland this year.

There’s no way Rubio would take a mid-level exception on a team that already traded for his replacement. The Cavs couldn’t afford to give Rubio a deal he rightfully deserves in this scenario either. The only way the Cavs can actually re-sign Rubio is through his Bird Rights, which they won’t have if he leaves the team. The Bird Rights allow a team to go over the salary cap to re-sign a player and as long as the team obtains the player while he’s under contract, that team gets those rights.

Those rights are gone if he hits free agency, however, and the Cavs can’t re-acquire Rubio. The Cavs are already $22 million over the cap as it stands right now, with Collin Sexton needing a new deal as well. Even if you trade both players, you’re still getting back a contract around $30 million that won’t expire until the 2023 offseason at least.

After all, why would one team trade an expiring contract for two expiring contracts?

This negates any possibility that the Cavs can bring back Rubio, as the team will still be some $20+ million over the cap, with no relief to come.

The Cavs moving Kevin Love to re-sign Ricky Rubio doesn’t make sense

Another option people have pitched was the idea of trading Kevin Love to help get out from under the salary cap hell the Cavs would find themselves in after any potential trade. Part of why this Cavs team was so good was their chemistry on the second unit and you can’t just manufacture that type of chemistry.

So trading Love to free up cap space doesn’t make sense either, as you’re down three key pieces for one player. One player with obvious flaws, otherwise he wouldn’t have been dealt for expiring deals.

So the idea of trading for a guy like Russell Westbrook or John Wall just doesn’t make sense. Westbrook isn’t a fit in this system and Wall could be a likable option but not for three players, a possible pick, and the chemistry this team has developed.

If the Cavs are high on Rubio, then their only bet to retain him is to re-sign him sooner rather than later. Despite his ACL injury, Rubio should be back by the start of next season and shouldn’t lose much, if any of his skills as ACL injuries are no longer the career-altering injury that they used to be; that is as long as there are no complections.

So if you thought trading him and then re-signing him in the offseason was feasible, I hate to break it to you.