Latest On Cavaliers’ Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro

Dean Wade and Isaac Okoro have been floating on the trade rumor mill, and for both Cavaliers, it’s nothing personal. The Cavs love both. But it’s just that time of year.

And according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, an Akron native, the Cavs have indeed explored moving Okoro and Wade.

“Do I talk to people who say that they may trade Okoro or they may trade Wade? Yes, that is definitely something that I have heard, that the Cavs have investigated that,” Windhorst said on ESPN Cleveland. “But, you’ve got to really look at this team. They believe that this team can win the whole thing.”

Any Cavaliers moves will be done with that belief in mind. But it may not be so easy.

“I would be surprised they would be able to offload Okoro, especially without incentivizing,” Windhorst said. “… If you’re not sending anything back, if you’re just straight absorbing the contract, I’m not sure a team would do that. I think you could do that with Wade, because he makes considerably less.”

The Cavs are hopeful of re-signing guards Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill in free agency, and because of their salary-cap situation, may need to cut costs elsewhere. That makes Wade and Okoro logical trade chips.

The Cavs have had trouble in their attempts to move Okoro, reported Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

“From everything that I’m told, they’re having a hard time finding anybody that has legitimate interest in Isaac Okoro unless Isaac also comes with some kind of sweetener from the Cavs,” Fedor said.

“Some kinds of assets attached to his contract because I think there are teams out there that are looking at Isaac and they’re saying, like we’d be doing you a favor by taking on his contract, so make it worth our time to do that. Make it worthwhile for us to do that. Give us future second-round picks. Go find a first-round pick somehow that you can trade to us along with Isaac Okoro, then we’ll help you out.”

Okoro will make $11 million next season. He averaged 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists this season in 55 games while shooting 46.4% from the field, 37.1% from beyond the arc, and 71.7% from the free-throw line. 

Wade will make $6,623,456 next season in the final year of his contract. 

“From everything that I’ve heard, the Cavs have had discussions about Dean Wade,” Fedor said. “And do they want to see if they can use him and something else to see if they can get assets back, different kinds of assets back, or different kinds of players back in return.

“So I think they’re trying to figure out what is possible for us. And if we move off of Isaac Okoro’s money, if we move off Dean Wade’s money, does that make it easier to justify a Ty Jerome contract? Does that make it easier to justify a Sam Merrill contract?”

Wade appeared in 59 games this season. He averaged 5.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting 41.3% from the field, 36.0% from beyond the arc, and 53.3% from the free-throw line. 

The Cavaliers are projected to have $219 million in salary for the 2025-26 season and be over the second apron.

Ashish Mathur contributed to this report.