As the rest of the NBA anticipates what is expected to be a hectic free agency, the Cleveland Cavaliers are preparing for two monumentally different futures: one with LeBron James and the other without. The first step for the Cavs was done on Wednesday afternoon when the team announced that they extended a qualifying offer to guard Rodney Hood, effectively making him a restricted free agent, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The qualifying offer is worth $3.4 million.
Hood is not expected to take the qualifying offer and already has a number of interested teams in free agency. Early on, the New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, and Indiana Pacers have been named
Hood was one of the key pieces in a hectic 2018 NBA trade deadline day for the Cavs. He came to Cleveland alongside George Hill, Larry Nance Jr., and Jordan Clarkson in the deals that sent out Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Channing Frye.
He struggled finding his fit alongside LeBron James and Kevin Love while also dealing with some injuries along the way. According to Vardon, the Cavs view Hood as a future piece despite his struggles late in the season and in the playoffs.
Most NBA insiders said Hood cost himself lots of money with his postseason struggles, limiting the contract offers he might get this summer (he averaged 5.4 points, shot .167 from 3, and his plus-minus of minus-93 was the worst of the playoffs). But Hood rejoined the rotation for the last two games of the Finals, and the Cavs view him as a part of their future, a source said.
Hood finished the season averaging just 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 three-pointers per game on 44 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from beynd the arc.