AUSTRALIAN guard Matthew Dellavedova may not be with his championship Cleveland Cavaliers team much longer, after a US report of massive offers from NBA rivals the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons.

Dellavedova, who is a restricted free agent, has been tipped for a “$10 million offer sheet” (per season) by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, speaking on The Lowe Post podcast.

Dellavedova, 25, was tipped for a huge pay rise last season but after a tepid finish to an NBA Finals campaign that started with “Dellymania”, he took a modest one-year extension for about $US1.2 million from the Cavs.

“They could’ve signed Matthew Dellavedova to a $2 or $3 million a year contract and now I think someone is coming in with a $10 million offer sheet,” Windhorst said.

Monday September 21st

“For some reason, and I got a pretty good idea why, the Milwaukee Bucks attended Cavs games in the playoffs like they were a fan of the team. They had scouts there, (coach) Jason Kidd came to one of the games. I think the Bucks have zeroed in on Dellavedova. I think they intend to offer him a bunch of money.

“The Detroit Pistons were hanging around in the playoffs a lot, sending scouts. They weren’t sending scouts to evaluate J.R. (Smith), I think they intend to go after Dellavedova.”

Matthew Dellavedova with LeBron James and the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy. (Instagram) Source: Instagram

Matthew Dellavedova during the Cleveland Cavaliers 2016 NBA Championship victory parade. Source: Getty Images

Dellavedova is a restricted free agent, meaning the Cavs would have the option of matching any potential offer, but they could go nowhere near the touted rival amount given their bloated salary cap situation. Cleveland has the NBA’s highest payroll: $103 million for this season, above the cap of $70 million and the luxury tax line of $84.74 million.

Dellavedova is in an interesting situation with his free agency. He had career highs averages across the board in the regular season: 7.5 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game, along with shooting 41 per cent from behind the arc. Yet in the Finals he had 2.7 points and 1.0 assist per game, while shooting an unenviable 16.7 per cent from behind the three-point line.

On the defensive end, Dellavedova’s signature tenacity didn’t translate to results, with the Cavaliers being outscored by 55 points in the 46 minutes he was on the floor. Dellavedova fell behind veteran guard Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones in the pecking order and the Australian didn’t feature at all in Cleveland’s historic win in Game 7.

Should he go to Milwaukee, he would follow in the footsteps of Andrew Bogut, drafted as the No.1 pick by the Bucks in 2005. Should he end up in Detroit, he would join two fellow Australians currently on the rosters, Aron Baynes and Cameron Bairstow, himself just traded from the Chicago Bulls.

Yet Dellavedova remains a hugely popular teammate in Cleveland. Hilarious video emerged of him hosting a celebratory beer pong party for Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye at his house, while he was given a huge rap by LeBron James during the Cavs’ celebration parade.

Thank you Cleveland 👍 that was unbelievable, you guys are the best! pic.twitter.com/mPltNVq5yw — Matthew Dellavedova (@matthewdelly) June 22, 2016

After a chant of “Delly, Delly” went up from the estimated 1.3 million turnout, James said: “Yeah, and he deserves that.

“If there was a bear right here and there was Delly right here and I shot the ball and I was wondering who would get to the ball first, Delly would tear that damn bear up.

“You all saw for the last two years Delly gave us everything. He damn near gave his life last year in the finals when he went to the hospital.

“That’s a guy who is dedicated, who never cared about guys saying that Delly is not fast enough, Delly is not strong enough, Delly can’t shoot it well enough, Delly is not an NBA player. Well guess what? Delly is a champion. Thank you Delly.”

After being introduced to the crowd with AC/DC’s hit T.N.T, Delly said: “I really want to thank everyone in Cleveland for welcoming me. You are the best fans in the world.”