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Age: 32

2017-18 Per-Game Stats: 10.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.4 blocks, 46.0 percent shooting

Advanced Stats: 12.2 PER, minus-21.76 TPA, minus-0.27 RPM



Contract Details: 2 years, $37 million ($1 million guarantee for 2019-20)

George Hill's future with the Cavaliers is par for the roster's course: It all depends on what LeBron James (player option) does in free agency.

No one is safe if the four-time MVP signs elsewhere—save for maybe whoever the team drafts with the Brooklyn Nets pick and Cedi Osman. This isn't news. Some players might be in the clear if he stays. (Looking at you, Kyle Korver).

Hill is not one of them.

James enjoys a certain level of security beside him, even when he's not lighting up the box score or making any shots whatsoever. Hill is the steady ball-handler, sometimes game manager that the Cavaliers have failed to uncover in Jordan Clarkson and Rodney Hood and cannot afford to play in Jose Calderon. Trading him dilates a void they've yet to fully cork in the aftermath of Kyrie Irving's exit.

Short of an improbable title March, though, the Cavaliers cannot have it both ways: They cannot run this core back and expect to re-sign James.

Heads would roll in advance of next season to augment his window, and the Brooklyn selection alone won't net them everything they need. Landing impact names will demand the inclusion of non-lethal salary-matching fodder, and Hill's contract is about as digestible as it gets for the Cavaliers.

Tristan Thompson (two years, $36 million) isn't an enticing blockbuster anchor—nor is Cleveland ready to soldier on without him. Pairing Kevin Love, who owns a player option for 2019-20, with the Nets pick makes little sense if the returning player isn't Kawhi Leonard.

Clarkson's two-year, $25.9 million commitment is an albatross. J.R. Smith is essentially owed as much as Hill over the next two years when factoring in his $3.9 million guarantee for 2019-20. And at least the latter comes with the bonus benefit of maybe earning his keep.

Viewed this way, the Cavaliers' most efficient path to dealing for a marquee name includes dangling Hill and the Nets' draft choice together. He has immediate value, and his $1 million guarantee opens the door for his next team to wipe $17 million from its ledger leading into 2019 free agency.