CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers have completed their four-year, $30.8 million contract extension for starting forward Cedi Osman.
The sides reached an agreement Thursday and the team made it official Saturday, hours before Cleveland hosts the Indiana Pacers in its home opener and first game in remodeled Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse under first-year coach John Beilein.
The Cavs view Osman as a future core player and wanted to lock him in financially. He was in the final year of his rookie contract and could have been a restricted free agent next summer.
General manager Koby Altman says Osman “epitomizes everything it means to be a Cavalier. … His work ethic and commitment to this organization and community are qualities we admire in a player.”
The 6-foot-7 Osman averaged 13 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 75 starts last season. With more playing time, his scoring average jumped 9.1 points from the previous season.
Osman also represented the Cavaliers at 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte as a member of the World Team for the MTN DEW ICE Rising Stars.
A native of Ohrid, Macedonia, Osman was originally selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 31st overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft before having his draft rights acquired by the Cavaliers that night, and signed a contract with Cleveland on July 18, 2017. The third-year forward has spent his entire NBA career with the Cavs and owns career averages of 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game over 138 career contests (88 starts).
Prior to his NBA career, Osman played for Anadolu Efes in Turkey (2011-2017), where he earned BSL All-Star honors in each of his last three seasons (2015-17) while helping Anadolu Efes win the 2015 Turkish Cup and 2015 Turkish Supercup. Osman has also been a member of the Turkish senior national team since 2014. In the 2019 FIBA World Cup last month, he averaged a team-high 20.4 points per game for Turkey, which ranked sixth among all players in the tournament.
