© David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
After a holdout from the Warriors this fall, Patrick McCaw left the Golden State Warriors as a restricted free agent and signed an offer sheet with the Cleveland Cavaliers in December, on a two-year, $6 million deal. Playing in just three games with Cleveland, they ended up releasing him on January 6th. The Warriors and the rest of the league were left scratching their heads after the series of moves made by their Eastern Conference rivals, that could’ve been seen as an attempt to make McCaw an unrestricted free agent.
According to Mark Stein of the New York Times, the Warriors requested that the league look into the signing as a violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, more specifically in violation of “salary cap circumvention”. On Monday, the NBA announced the investigation was completed and that there was no violation with the Cavaliers.
McCaw’s situation with the Warriors this summer remains unclear. After turning down the initial qualifying offer, the Warriors offered him a two year $5.2 million contract which he also elected not to sign. When the Cavs offered him a contract, the Warriors had a chance to match it, which would have cost an additional $11 million in luxury taxes.
Following his release from the Cavaliers, McCaw immediately signed with the Toronto Raptors for the remainder of the 2018-2019 season. Even after the investigation was completed, the situation with the Warriors and the holdout remains puzzling to many league experts.
“This industry, this game, is wild at times, and some stuff doesn’t make sense,” Steph Curry said to The Mercury Times Mark Medina when asked about what he thought of the Patrick McCaw situation.
Stephen Curry on the turn of events with Patrick McCaw. Steph conceded he hadn’t talked with him that much during free agency pic.twitter.com/YxyKEOeLmL
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 29, 2018
