CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Thursday night hoping to trade JR Smith, but turned down a few offers that would have returned a first-round pick, league sources tell cleveland.com.

While the odds of a deal have reduced, there’s still time. The Cavs have until Sunday, to be exact. And they remain the leader in the clubhouse to help a team create cap space heading into what is expected to be a frenzied summer.

After Sunday, Smith’s contract becomes fully guaranteed at $15.6 million. As of now, the Cavs are still trying to make a deal, according to sources familiar with those conversations, but it’s complicated and it has to be the right move, as general manager Koby Altman laid out when recapping the NBA Draft late Thursday night.

“We’re definitely going to investigate what we can do there,” Altman said. “There’s a pain threshold of doing it, going into the tax, which we would have to do in terms of taking back money and the rest of the NBA knowing that we’re in the tax and my job would be getting us out of the tax.

"Is there enough value there to do that, to put ourselves out there like that? I think that’s something we are weighing these last few days. There’s opportunity to do it. It’s just how deep do we want to go into the tax to bring back an asset? Also, what does it take us out of into the year? We’re still looking to add assets throughout the year, so using JR now might take us out of that.”

It all comes down to value. The primary reason Smith is coveted: His contract. At this point, it’s certainly not about the player who has been one of the league’s worst over the last two years.

Smith signed his deal before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was grandfathered in. He has a partial guarantee of $3.8 million. That would allow some team to trade for him before Sunday, unloading a bad, lengthier contract onto the Cavs, and then cutting him prior to the date, getting about $11 million in salary relief heading into free agency.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons made a similar salary-dump move involving Tony Snell, Jon Leuer and a first-round pick ahead of the draft. By giving up a first-rounder, the Bucks saved about $4 million this year. But Snell’s contract extends longer than Leuer’s as well, allowing Milwaukee to take Snell’s $12 million contract off their books for the 2020-21 season. In all, that move saved Milwaukee about $16 million over two seasons. The Bucks also picked up Leuer, who may be able to slide into Ersan Ilyasova’s role or be used as a trade chip during the season because of his expiring contract.

The Cavs, theoretically, could have done that kind of trade. They could have sent Smith to Milwaukee for Snell and the 30th pick. But would taking Snell’s bad contract, and going into the luxury tax, have been worth it for the last pick in Round One? Did the Bucks value Leuer more because, well, he can actually still play and add value as a trade asset rather than Smith, who would just be cut?

Again, it’s all about value. It didn’t line up. So the Cavs accomplished their goal of acquiring a third first-round pick -- that same No. 30 -- a different way, parting with up to four future second-round picks (one is protected and may not materialize) and $5 million.

That particular $5 million isn’t a big deal. Each year, teams get about that much money to include in trades. The Cavs had the full allotment heading into draft night and had they not used it, the cash would have expired anyway. The Cavs felt that deal, using assets accumulated recently, made more sense than going into the luxury tax.

The Miami Heat were another team connected to Smith. Miami had the 13th pick in the draft. The Heat also have a few bloated contracts they’d like to move. Hypothetically, Miami could have offered James Johnson and the 13th pick for Smith and No. 26. No, the Heat probably wouldn’t have wanted to move a lottery pick in a salary dump, but dropping back 13 spots might have been worth considering.

For the Cavs, that would have meant taking Johnson, who is owed $15.1 million in 2019-20 and will almost assuredly opt into his $15.7 million next season. Beyond an extra year of money owed to Johnson, the Cavs, essentially, would have owed him $11 million more than Smith this season, pushing them into the luxury tax. Paying upwards of $30 million to move up 13 spots? That’s a lot.

Using the stretch provision to get back under the tax to move up 13 spots? That’s also costly, especially in a draft where players ranked 12-36 were all about the same.

The Cavs want to be smart about their spending. They don’t want to abuse the privileges they get from owner Dan Gilbert’s willingness to write checks. It has to make sense. It’s always about the end result and impact of the move on the rebuild.

In a perfect world, the Cavs are trying to finish next season under the $132 million luxury-tax threshold. But that’s not a demand, according to sources.

Still, staying below the tax will allow them to reset their books and keep from being a repeater tax team. Being a repeater team means incurring penalties that would restrict them from making certain financial moves. It also doesn’t make sense to pay that exorbitantly for a team that is highly likely to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference once again.

As Altman pointed out, everyone around the league recognizes Cleveland’s position. That’s why other teams are asking the Cavs to take back a bulky contract in return for a draft asset. Or if the Cavs get into the tax and eventually try to work their way out by stretching someone or dumping a contract (Tristan Thompson, Jordan Clarkson, John Henson), they won’t have much leverage, if any, in trade discussions. That’s another situation they would like to avoid.

A rebuild requires flexibility. Currently, there are 11 players on the roster. Rookie first-rounders Darius Garland and Dylan Windler bring that number to 13. Kevin Porter Jr., the third member of Cleveland’s draft class when the deal for the 30th pick becomes official, would be 14. The Cavs also have a decision to make on could-be-restricted free agent David Nwaba. That would be 15, the maximum number allowed.

Cutting Smith, which is the only option if the Cavs don’t find a trade partner, would bring that number back down to 14. That extra spot could be reserved for a free agent.

If the Cavs stay under the luxury tax going into free agency, they will have the full mid-level exception (about $9 million) available, increasing the quality of player they could add in what will be a mundane off-season for them. If they are into the luxury tax -- a result of taking on a bad contract in a Smith deal -- than the Cavs would only have the taxpayer’s mid-level to use, which is about $5-6 million.

It’s the difference of $3-4 million to offer. Using that mid-level may not happen given their salary situation, but it isn’t a bad option to have.

Draft night came and went. The Cavs entered with a plan of adding a third pick either in Round One or Round Two. Smith’s contract was supposed to be their best path to that. But they were never going to force it. When the value never made sense, the Cavs found another way to accomplish that goal.

There’s still a chance they find a match for Smith before Sunday. But there’s always the other option: Release him before his contract becomes guaranteed. Even that is valuable.

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