Matthew Dellavedova may not have received the multi-million dollar pay rise he'd hoped, but he's happy to be back with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Australian point guard agreed on Monday to return to Cleveland - the blue-collar Midwest city where he is beloved by Cavaliers' fans for his relentless play.
"Very excited to be back with the Cavs next season!" Dellavedova wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Cleveland players and fans responded with cheers on social media.
All-Star point guard, Australian-born Kyrie Irving, retweeted the Cavaliers' message, "Welcome back to #TheLand, mate!" while fans wrote "Welcome Home", "Love you Delly" and "You never quit even when your team was losing by a lot and I give you props for that".
Dellavedova and his agent were reportedly seeking a $US3 million ($A4 million) to $US5 million a year contract, a significant upgrade from the $US816,000 the Cavaliers paid him last season when he was star LeBron James' sidekick in the NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.
The Australian settled on Monday for the one-year, $US1.2 million deal the team offered him last month.
Dellavedova, as an unrestricted free agent, was allowed to negotiate with other teams, but the Cavaliers controlled his destiny as they could match any offer rivals offered.
That likely turned suitors off.
Cleveland were also restricted financially.
The Cavaliers face a record salary cap luxury tax bill after agreeing in recent weeks to $US197 million in multi-year contracts for James, forward Kevin Love and guard Iman Shumpert, and are yet to re-sign forwards Tristan Thompson and JR Smith.
As well as adding Dellavedova cheaply, Cleveland re-signed guard/forward James Jones (one-year, $US1.45 million) and picked up guard Mo Williams (two-year, $US4.3 million).
Dellavedova and fellow Australian NBA players, Andrew Bogut, Cameron Bairstow and Dante Exum, will join forces for the Boomers against New Zealand next month in a two-game Olympic qualifying tournament.
Share

