Channing Frye has officially agreed on a deal to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team announced Thursday.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported last week that the former Arizona Wildcats standout would return to the site of his 2016 NBA championship run on a one-year, $2.4 million deal.
The Cavaliers have not released details of the contract.
It didn't take long Thursday for Frye, a UA alumnus, to find the locker of Cavs teammate Kevin Love, who played college ball at rival UCLA in 2007-08. Frye posted a video to his Instagram story at Love's expense.
The video shows Frye kicking a pair of UCLA sandals away from Love's locker in Cleveland. He posted it around the same time the Cavaliers announced Frye's signing. Priorities, right?
Frye and Love played on the same team in Cleveland that overcame a 3-1 deficit to best the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. The Cavs traded for Frye in February 2016, before dishing him to the Lakers in February last season as part of a deal that also shipped Isaiah Thomas to Los Angeles.
Now 35 years old, Frye returns to a Cleveland team in rebuild mode after losing LeBron James in free agency. Still, the Cavs expect to remain competitive after four straight finals appearances and their first NBA title.
The Cavs drafted Alabama's Collin Sexton with the eighth pick in this year's draft to man the point guard position. Sexton will compete with George Hill for starting minutes as part of a new-look starting five in Cleveland. Love, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson are slated to round out the roster in 2018-19.
Frye will have to compete with Love, Thompson and former Laker Larry Nance Jr., for minutes down low.
Frye has played for six NBA teams over his 13-year career. He's coming off a 4-year, $32 million contract that he signed in 2014 with the Orlando Magic. He declined a $6.8 million option with the Phoenix Suns in 2014, after spending four seasons with the franchise.
He averaged just over seven points in 17 minutes with Cleveland in 2016, when he took a back seat in a finals run behind James and Love. Frye, the Knicks' eighth overall pick in the 2005 draft, has made about $66 million over his career with New York, Portland, Phoenix, Orlando, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
The 6-11 forward is the lone remaining player in the NBA from a 2001-02 Arizona Wildcats team that lost to Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.
Frye has averaged nine points and 4.6 rebounds in 12 NBA seasons, shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from beyond the arc.
