Jahlil Okafor, Jared Cunningham

Jared Cunningham, who was chasing this loose ball during an October preseason game, is waiting to hear his contract status as the Cavaliers close in on the Jan. 10 guarantee date.

(Matt Slocum, Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Cavaliers have yet to make a decision on if Jared Cunningham will be a member of the team after this week, league sources have informed cleveland.com.

The organization has a Jan. 10 deadline to either cut the high-flying 6-3 guard or guarantee his $981,348 salary for the remainder of the season.

"Whatever happens, happens," Cunningham told cleveland.com. "I can't control the decision; I can just control what I do. The things I've been doing, I guess have been helping and they've taking a liking to it. So when that day comes, it's just up to the front office and their decision."

The 24-year-old guard is playing on his fifth team in four years, but he's experiencing his most productive pro season to date. He's appeared in 25 games, the most he's ever played in a season and all three of his career starts have come while sporting the wine and gold uniforms.

Due to the astronomical salary cap figure spent on this year's 15-man roster, if kept, Cunningham's earning would cost the team in the ballpark of $3.8 million in luxury tax dollars if they keep the roster as is. Owner Dan Gilbert has shown he's willing to spend what is necessary to keep a championship-caliber team intact and just for team continuity sake, he could write the check.

Cunningham has been a locker room favorite. He's the little brother to players such as Mo Williams, James Jones and most importantly LeBron James, who has taken him under his wing and is always giving him a hard time for his lack of knowledge when it comes to early to mid-'90s hip hop.

When James plays an old school West Coast classic in the locker room and Cunningham has no idea of the artist or the song, it drives James crazy because Cunningham is from Oakland, California.

But he takes the jabs in stride.

"It's been great," Cunningham said. "LeBron has been like a big brother. He's a great person, great teammate and he just helps me get better."

Head coach David Blatt has used Cunningham as the backup point guard, the starting shooting guard and defensive specialist while the team was battling injuries to the backcourt.

Now with a healthy roster, he's the last player to come off the bench -- seeing action only if the game gets out of hand or if foul trouble becomes an issue.

"I think Jared has done a great job since Day 1," Blatt said. "I don't think anyone has any questions about Jared's ability to play for us, to help us, to play in this league. There are other issues at hand, contractual issues that are really not so much my decisions to make, but Jared has acquitted himself well here from Day 1."

In a week, Cunningham will learn his fate, but he's not overly focused on it. He's going to stick to what he does best.

"I've been in situations like this plenty of times before so at this point, it's out of my ability to control it," he said, "so I'm just playing and just living and doing everything day-by-day."