Mo Williams Considering Retirement, Cavs Could Part With Him Soon

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mo Williams could be in his last week as a member of the Cavaliers.

Williams, 33, a 13-year veteran and former All-Star who played a supporting role in the Cavs' 2016 NBA championship, is strongly considering retirement, multiple sources told cleveland.com.

Additionally, the "stretch" deadline in the NBA is approaching, which means that if a player is waived by Aug. 31 (Wednesday), the team can spread his salary out over a period of years -- which could lessen the luxury tax penalty Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert will have to pay next summer.

Williams exercised the player's option in the two-year, $4.3 million contract he signed prior to the start of last season, so the Cavs would owe him about $2.2 million in '16-17.

The Cavs' payroll is already $117.6 million -- way over the NBA's $94 million cap and above the luxury-tax threshold of $113.2 million. They have yet to re-sign J.R. Smith or bring in additional player through trade, which will bump the team's payroll even higher.

Waiving Williams before the Aug. 31 deadline would allow the Cavs to pay him his $2.2 million over a period of three years and lessen his tax burden to the team by several million dollars.

But Williams' departure from the team would also leave Cleveland with only 2016 second-round draft pick Kay Felder of Oakland University as backup point guard to Kyrie Irving on the roster.

The Cavs could find a potential trade partner to take Williams' contract and allow Cleveland to add to its roster, according to a source, so there is no decision yet from an organizational standpoint on whether or not to waive him by Wednesday's deadline. 

From Williams' side of this, he battled a left-knee issue for most of last season while playing in just 41 regular-season games, as his playing time dwindled once Irving returned from knee surgery and the coaching staff chose to stick with Matthew Dellavedova as Irving's backup.

Sources said his balky knee, desire to coach -- especially younger players and children -- and the obvious chance to go out as a champion are weighing heavily upon him.

Williams and Felder are featured in a recent YouTube video conducting a workout, though in the 11-minute clip it appeared Williams was mostly giving instruction to the Cavs rookie and was barely participating in the drills himself -- a sign that something like this is coming.