Okoro agrees to 3-year, $38M deal with Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers and restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro agreed to a three-year, $38 million contract Saturday afternoon, agents Michael Tellem, Jeff Schwartz and Marcus Monk told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Okoro, 23, was the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, and was the last restricted free agent left on the market. His signing, which comes just over two weeks before the start of training camp, caps a busy and productive summer for the Cavaliers.

Cleveland secured massive contract extensions with superstar guard Donovan Mitchell (three years, $150 million), young cornerstone forward Evan Mobley (five years, $224 million) and center Jarrett Allen (three years, $91 million). The Cavaliers also hired Kenny Atkinson away from the Golden State Warriors to replace J.B. Bickerstaff as coach.

Now Cleveland has brought back Okoro — a 6-foot-5 forward who averaged 9.4 points and shot a career-high 39.1% from 3-point range on over three attempts per game. He played in 69 games, 42 starts.

Okoro will slot into a key role off the bench for the Cavaliers, where he will play behind Mitchell and Max Strus on the wing and will be the team’s best perimeter defender. Cleveland will look to build upon winning a combined 99 games across the past two seasons, and advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2018 this spring — and the first time without LeBron James on the roster since 1993.