WASHINGTON -- The Cleveland Cavaliers intend to keep Jared Cunningham on the roster for the remainder of the season, a league source told ESPN.com Thursday.
The Cavs had to decide by 5 p.m. EST Thursday whether to keep Cunningham and fully guarantee his $981,348 salary, or cut him so he could clear waivers by Sunday's deadline and not count against Cleveland's final cap number.
Cunningham, a 6-foot-4, 195 combo guard who has played time at the 1, 2 and 3 for Cleveland this season and even started three games when Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert and Mo Williams were injured, is averaging 3.4 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.4 steals in 11.7 minutes per game. His biggest impact has been his ball pressure as a wing defender.
Keeping Cunningham could cost the Cavs more than $4 million all told between his salary and the luxury tax fees it will bring should the team not make any other moves to its roster as currently constructed.
The move, first reported by cleveland.com, comes at a time when the back end of the Cavs' bench is dealing with injury woes.
Williams, who has received a DNP-CD in three of Cleveland's last five games, traveled Thursday to New York to visit with a hand specialist to seek a second opinion on his sprained right thumb, according to a league source. Williams has had two surgeries on the same thumb in the past.
And Joe Harris will undergo potentially season-ending surgery next week to remove a bone in his right foot that's been causing him irritation. However like Williams, Harris has not been part of coach David Blatt's rotation as of late.
