The Cleveland Cavaliers’ search for scoring help after losing out on LeBron James has a new name attached to it, and this one comes with far fewer complications than the pursuit that has dominated the past week.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday on ESPN’s “NBA Today” that the Cavs are one of three teams pursuing veteran forward DeMar DeRozan.
REPORT: The Miami Heat are targeting DeMar DeRozan and Klay Thompson, per @ShamsCharania
“I’m told Miami, Denver, and Cleveland are among the teams interested in DeMar DeRozan… There is a player out west that is overlapping with DeRozan as far as interest from teams. That is… pic.twitter.com/ChLZN7Zdqm
— Heat Central (@TheHeatCentral) July 27, 2026
“I’m told Miami, Denver and Cleveland are among the teams interested in DeMar DeRozan,” Charania said.
The six-time All-Star has been available since the Sacramento Kings waived him on July 6, and his market sat mostly quiet while James dragged the league through a month-long free agency decision.
Now that James has landed with the Philadelphia 76ers, the teams that missed on him are circling the most accomplished scorer left on the board, and Cleveland is among them.
What DeRozan still offers
DeRozan, 36, remains a productive offensive player deep into his 17th NBA season. He appeared in 77 games for Sacramento in 2025-26 and averaged 18.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 32.0 percent from 3-point range, per Basketball-Reference.
He turns 37 in August. The fit in Cleveland is straightforward. The Cavs reached the Eastern Conference finals last season but spent stretches of that run starved for reliable shot creation behind their stars, and DeRozan has built a career on manufacturing offense when possessions break down.
His midrange game and foul-drawing have aged far better than most scoring profiles, even if his 3-point shooting and defense demand lineup care around him.
There is also a locker-room hook: DeRozan and James Harden are longtime friends, a connection Cavs fans surfaced almost immediately once the veteran hit waivers.
The money says DeRozan is the realistic pursuit
The DeRozan interest lands differently when placed next to Cleveland’s other reported target. The Cavs and Jonathan Kuminga have mutual interest, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
But Vardon’s cap breakdown shows how narrow that path is. Cleveland can offer a starting salary of roughly $6.1 million through the taxpayer midlevel exception, which would hard-cap the team at the second apron, while Kuminga is reportedly seeking a deal in the range of $20 million to $23 million annually.
Getting Kuminga to that number would require a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks, who hold his Bird rights and would need to be satisfied with the matching salary coming back.
Chris Fedor of cleveland.com laid out that machinery on the “Wine and Gold Talk” podcast last week and did not hide his skepticism about the whole exercise, saying of Cleveland’s fallback position.
“I just don’t think it’s that appealing of a Plan B,” said Fedor.
None of that machinery applies to DeRozan. He is a free agent who can sign anywhere tomorrow, and after being waived he profiles as exactly the kind of low-cost veteran addition a capped-out contender can absorb without touching its rotation.
That distinction matters more with each day the Kuminga situation sits unresolved. With James off the board, the league’s marketplace now centers on Peyton Watson’s restricted free agency and Kuminga’s ongoing free agency — a reminder that the standoff Cleveland would need Atlanta’s help to resolve has not budged.
The competition is real
Cleveland will not have DeRozan to itself. The Miami Heat have already spoken with his representatives since James chose Philadelphia. Jackson reported that DeRozan has interest in Miami, that several teams have contacted his camp and that some of those suitors can offer exception money, meaning he is under no pressure to accept a minimum deal.
The Heat, fresh off their blockbuster acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo, have three open roster spots and roughly $8 million in remaining exception money, though at least one Miami official reportedly favors letting the market develop.
Denver’s involvement is more complicated. The Nuggets just matched Oklahoma City’s offer sheet on Spencer Jones, a move that pushed them into the second apron and left them with little to spend beyond minimum contracts.
For DeRozan, Denver represents a championship-caliber roster but a bench role and minimum money — a resume play more than a payday.
That leaves Cleveland positioned somewhere in between: a team that won 64 games two seasons ago and reached the conference finals last spring, with a clearer on-court role for DeRozan than either rival can promise.
How this fits Cleveland’s week
The DeRozan report caps a rapid post-LeBron pivot for the front office. Within 48 hours of James choosing Philadelphia, the Cavs agreed to a one-year deal with EuroLeague star Mario Hezonja, a move that already hinted the team preferred targeted, affordable additions over a roster-reshaping swing.
That signing said plenty about where the Kuminga pursuit stood, and Monday’s news extends the same logic to the wing rotation. The open questions now stack up quickly.
Harden’s return is expected around the league, but a new deal had not been finalized as of late last week, and his final number shapes everything else Cleveland can do. The Cavs also still carry Max Strus and Dennis Schroder as the matching-salary candidates in any theoretical Kuminga construction, which means every cheap outside addition reduces the pressure to move either player at a discount.
A DeRozan signing would not close the book on Kuminga. But it would tell the league which version of the offseason Cleveland’s front office actually believes in — the one that requires Atlanta’s cooperation, weeks of patience and $20 million a year, or the one where a six-time All-Star walks in the door for a fraction of that because the market finally came to the Cavs.
For a team that just watched a month of LeBron patience end in Philadelphia, the appeal of the option that requires nobody else’s permission is obvious.
