Face it, unless Cleveland drafts another Franchise cornerstone, they may find themselves in the dreaded 6-8 seed purgatory until Irving plays out his contract and bails on them too.

I understand the small likelihood of this happening, but does anyone know if there are rules governing amnestying a player and then re-signing him for less money? I know you may not alter a player’s contract (so that, for example, Kobe could take less money so the Lakers could sign better players in his twilight years), but I don’t know if the amnesty could theoretically provide a loophole.

The argument against Luke Walton coming to the Cavs is really moot. Sure, he is making $6.1M next year (the last year of his deal) but for arguments sake, Ramon was set to make $4.8M. So it is only an increase of $1.3M from their plan. Plus, if they are able to pull off another move in the offseason or before the deadline, Walton works as cap filler in trades. Plus, the Cavs will be around $20M under the cap. Some of that needs to go to Alonzo Gee, but they are still going to be able to pick up 2 1st rounders (& 2 2nd rounders) along with an under the radar, young FA or maybe jump on a bigger name (as long as he isn’t over 26 or 27.) The future is looking good!