Report: Cavs intend to retain Isaac Okoro despite interest from several teams

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro is slated to hit restricted free agency this offseason, but the Cavaliers reportedly plan on retaining him despite multiple Eastern Conference teams eyeing the 23-year-old.

“The Cavs intend to bring him back, though the outside interest is undoubtedly there,” Sam Amico wrote. “The [Orlando] Magic, [Charlotte] Hornets and [Washington] Wizards are others to keep an eye on, sources told Hoops Wire.”

Los Angeles Lakers beat writer Dan Woike recently painted a murky picture regarding Okoro’s future with the Cavaliers.

“Okoro would be pricier — a restricted free agent who showed real offensive growth while always possessing the defensive tools teams value,” Woike wrote. “Would Cleveland just match an offer at the tax-payer midlevel? The general sense is that there would at least be conversations, so there’d possibly be a window for a team to land the 23-year-old wing.”

Okoro enjoyed arguably the most productive season of his NBA career during the 2023-24 regular season, his fourth season as a member of the Cavaliers.

Starting with the offensive side of the ball, the youngster averaged 9.4 points per game (the second-highest scoring average of his pro career) while shooting 49.0 percent from the floor and a career-high 39.1 percent from deep on 3.1 attempts per contest.

Okoro’s 3-point percentage has improved with every passing season. As a rookie, he shot just 29.0 percent from deep. That number then rose to 35.0 percent in his sophomore year and 36.3 percent in his third season in the NBA.

Shifting to the defensive end of the floor, Okoro has been one of the Cavaliers’ top defenders for quite some time now. He averages 0.8 steals per game for his NBA career, and in 69 games played (42 starts) with Cleveland in the 2023-24 regular season, Okoro averaged 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game.

But while Okoro had an auspicious regular season on both ends of the floor, his play during the Cavaliers’ stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs left a lot to be desired. Okoro’s scoring average and efficiency plummeted compared to the regular season, as he averaged just 5.5 points per game on 35.7 percent shooting from the floor and 25.7 percent from deep in 12 total playoff games with Cleveland.

The Cavaliers’ time in the 2024 NBA Playoffs came to an end after the team lost Game 5 of their second-round series to the Boston Celtics. Okoro finished with just five points on 2-of-4 shooting from the floor and 1-of-1 from 3-point range along with three rebounds and one assist in a game Cleveland lost by 15 points.