Evan Mobley agrees to five-year rookie max extension

Evan Mobley agrees to five-year rookie max extension

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley has agreed to a five-year, $224 million rookie max extension that could be worth up to $269 million, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Saturday evening.

Mobley’s max could receive a considerable pay raise courtesy of the Rose Rule, which will push his five-year max from 25 percent of the cap to 30 percent if he’s named to an All-NBA Team, is named Defensive Player of the Year or the MVP. It won’t kick in until the 2025-26 season, when it’s currently set to begin at $38.7 million, according to Spotrac.

The former No. 3 pick has been one of the league’s top young big men since entering the league. He averaged 15.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 blocks last season, shooting 58.0 percent from the floor and 71.9 percent from the free-throw line. He’s been a low-volume 3-point shooter over his career, though he converted on a career-best 37.3 percent of his 1.2 attempts per game in 2023-24.

Cleveland has been consistent on wanting to keep their “core four” of Darius Garland , Donovan Mitchell , Mobley and Jarrett Allen together. Garland recently expressed his disinterest with being traded; Mitchell already signed his extension and now has Cleveland’s best big. Allen, who is extension-eligible, is entering the penultimate season of a five-year, $100 million deal. Though I think they will experiment with the Mobley-Allen frontcourt for one more season due to Allen’s relationship with new head coach Jarrett Allen .

Those four players will account for 73.5 percent of the cap in 2024-25 and 93.1 percent the following season. That’s steep, though perhaps the quartet could justify it by being in the thick of contention alongside Boston, Philadelphia and New York for a title. I’m not sure that will be the case, but I’ve seen crazier things happen.

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The post Evan Mobley agrees to five-year rookie max extension appeared first on Vendetta Sports Media .