On Wednesday afternoon, Joe Vardon of cleveland.com reported that the Cleveland Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer to guard Rodney Hood, which made him a restricted free agent. Hood’s qualifying offer is worth $3.4 million, and it sounds like the Cavs are willing to match any other proposals.
Though Hood didn’t see much action in the closing phases of the 2017-18 season, it seems as though the Cavs are interested in keeping the former Duke Blue Devil on-board.
“The Cavs still intend to keep Hood, who is said to be a fallback option for the (Chicago) Bulls should their negotiations with shooting guard Zach LaVine fall apart,” a source told Sean Deveney of Sporting News. “If Hood gets an offer from Chicago or anyone, the Cavaliers will match.
“Both the Cavaliers and Hood, the source said, are braced for the possibility that Hood will sign the one-year qualifying offer, which allows him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, with the hope of rebuilding his value this season.”
The Cavs acquired Hood, now 25 years of age, from the Utah Jazz back in February. He made 21 regular season appearances with the Wine and Gold, racking up averages of 10.8 points on 44.2 percent shooting from the field (35.2 percent from beyond the arc), 2.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 25.3 minutes per.
Hood dealt with injuries and struggled to find his rhythm alongside LeBron James, who declined his player option on Friday morning. Through it all, though, the Cavs feel confident in Hood’s abilities, thus the reasoning for their continued interest.
