Draft-and-stash perspective Lukas Travers has agreed to enter into a two-way contract with the CavaliersRepresentative Daniel Moldovan says Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Travers, who turns 23 next Tuesday, was selected 56th in the 2022 draft. However, instead of signing an NBA contract at that time, he continued to play professionally in his native Australia, playing for the Perth Wildcats in 2022/23 and Melbourne United in 2023/24.
Travers, a 6’7″ wing, had a strong season in Melbourne last year, averaging 12.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 26.3 minutes per game while shooting .516/.327/.671 in 25 appearances. He also played for Cleveland’s Summer League team over the past three offseasons, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.9 APG and 1.4 BPG in 15 games (24.7 MPG) in Las Vegas.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Travers had left Melbourne United to pursue NBA opportunities. While a two-way deal with Cleveland always seemed the most likely outcome, it was not considered a certainty until now. The Cavs could have sold his NBA rights to another team or used a spot on the 15-man roster to sign him.
Instead, Travers will begin his NBA career in Cleveland on a two-way contract that pays him $578,577, half the rookie minimum. During that contract period, he is allowed to play in a maximum of 50 NBA games. However, if the Cavs have an open spot on their 15-man standard roster, they are limited to 90 total NBA games for their three two-way players (Travers, Emoni BatesAnd JT Thor). Therefore, the Australian winger will likely spend a lot of time in the G League with the Cleveland Charge.
Once the contracts with Travers and Thor are official, the Cavs will have 15 players under contract – 12 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts. Isaac Okoro still a restricted free agent.
