Max Strus agrees to four-year deal with Cavs in three-team sign-and-trade

While the deal looked inevitable Friday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers have officially acquired Max Strus on a four-year, $63 million deal in a three-team sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report Saturday morning.

Since Strus’ first-year salary projects to be roughly $14.6 million, Miami acquired a $7.3 million trade exception along with a 2026 Lakers second-round pick (terms undisclosed). The Spurs, meanwhile acquired forwards Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens plus a Cavaliers 2030 second-rounder, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

The Heat will have three exceptions at their disposal:

• $4.7 million from the Dewayne Dedmon trade
• $9.45 million from the Victor Oladipo trade
• $7.3 million from the Strus sign-and-trade

Trade exceptions, which last exactly one year, can be used to acquire one or multiple players, but they cannot be combined.

In lieu of the Georges Niang signing and the Strus sign-and-trade, the Cavaliers will be hard-capped at the $172.34 million tax apron. Miami, meanwhile, remains about $9 million from the second apron ($182.794M) with 11 rostered players.

Strus, 27, averaged 11.5 points on 41.0 percent shooting, including 35.0 percent from 3-point range last year. In 148 games since the start of the 2021-22 season, he’s posted averages of 11.1 points and 3.1 rebounds on 42.3/37.6/84.5 shooting splits.

Strus, a former undrafted free agent, has also spent time with the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics organizations in his career.

This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.