Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) walks on the court during the second half of Game 4 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Cleveland, June 11, 2015. AP
CLEVELAND, United States – Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova, whose gritty play won fans worldwide during the NBA Finals, has re-signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team said Monday.
The Cavaliers, who fell to Golden State in the NBA championship series in June, announced the deal along with the trade of center Brendan Haywood, guard Mike Miller and two future draft picks to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Terms of Dellavedova’s contract were not released, but the deal is for one year and ESPN.com reported it was worth some $1.2 million dollars.
Dellavedova, 24, played in 67 games in the 2014-15 regular season, 13 of them as a starter.
He averaged 4.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 20 minutes per game, hitting a career-best 40.7 percent from 3-point range.
But in the playoff run to the NBA Finals, the Aussie averaged 7.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists in nearly 245 minutes a game, filling in for injured Kyrie Irving in the title series.
Inking the deal means Dellavedova’s NBA future is settled as he prepares to compete for Australia in the FIBA Oceania Championship next month.
The Aussie squad for the regional championship will also include Andrew Bogut, who won his first NBA title with the Warriors last season. Bogut hasn’t played for Australia since the 2008 Olympics.
With his signing the Cavaliers retained another piece of the team that battled for a title last year, after bringing back superstar LeBron James, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert and James Jones.