How the Cavs’ two-way star earned a $3 million guaranteed contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to new terms with Nae’Quan Tomlin, turning his two-way contract into a two-year deal with $3 million in guarantees, multiple league sources confirmed to ClutchPoints on Tuesday morning. Tomlin’s promotion makes him the 15th man on the Cavs’ roster and opens up a two-way spot for the team.

On Monday, Tomlin played the last of his 50 games allotted under his old contract. Cleveland president of basketball operations Kobe Altman confirmed last week that converting the power forward has been in the team’s plans all along, and for good reason.

“He’s not just pretending, he’s playing real minutes and helping us,” Altman said in his post-deadline media availability. “So he was a revelation.”

In 43 games this year, Tomlin is averaging 6.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and an assist in over 17 minutes per game. He too cares about basketball with just a 7.0% turnover percentage, which according to Cleaning the Glass is in the 95th percentile in the NBA.

Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson was quick to talk about Tomlin’s energy and playmaking, which cannot be quantified.

“He’s not stuck in the mud. He’s out there like a racehorse,” Atkinson said Nov. 15 after a win against the Memphis Grizzlies. “In the summer, he has turns. He’s everywhere. Even offensively. He came out in transition, made a couple of plays. He looks like he’s playing open gym in September.”

It’s the way he competes, the way he embraces every challenge and the way he turns up the heat when he steps on the floor that kept Cleveland afloat when it struggled in the early months.

“He’s phenomenal, right? Every day,” Mitchell said Jan. 12 after a home loss to the Utah Jazz. “He only knows one speed. It’s just a blessing to watch that, you know what I’m saying? Every night he does it for us. And it’s not always going to be perfect, right? But he’s always going to give it to us, and that’s huge. Him, Jaylon (Tyson), Craig (Porter Jr.). We’ve always been pros, Tyrese (Kewan) our young, but we’ve always been young. Awesome.”

“I mean, that guy, he’s everywhere,” Jarrett Allen added that same night. “Defense, attack, on the bench, he does it all at every moment of the game. We just have to feed off that energy, understand that when he does it from six to 15, he has to do it from one to five.”

Even when the team is not whole, Tomlin did it every night, against anyonewhich earned him a spot in Cleveland’s rotation.

“I think I’m just trying to be a star in my role,” Tomlin said after the Cavs’ nationally televised victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 28. “I feel like my role is an energetic guy, somebody who’s going to go out there, play defense, play hard, win games. So I feel like I tried to be a star in that.”

“This guy is 6-10,” Atkinson added. “I don’t know what his wingspan is. He’s all over the place. If he starts making threes, we’re going to have one hell of a player on our hands.”

When the Cavs discovered the potential of Nae’Quan Tomlin

In just the fourth game of his sophomore season, Tomlin scored 18 points against the Toronto Raptors, and it was then that Atkinson first thought about what else could be.

“Imagine it’s like, ‘All of a sudden I’m an NBA player. I can get 18 points. I can play in a big game like this and contribute, get great minutes,'” Atkinson said. “I can’t imagine what that does to a guy’s confidence. But I really believe in the work, don’t you? I mean, summer league, he was amazing, right? He was elite. You said, ‘Well, summer league, sure.’ And then I’d say, ‘Open gym and preseason, really good.’

“So it shouldn’t be a surprise to us, the coaching staff. But he’s building confidence. This is a speed game now. It’s going like this, and his profile, the way he runs the court, his length, he fits in this league.”

From that point on, Atkinson rewarded him with earned playing time. It was consistent, then sporadic, then consistent again. It coincides with the kind of injury-riddled season Cleveland has had.

But this time, when the team gets healthier, it can’t afford to keep the 25-year-old dynamo on the board. Fast forward to now, and the Cavs know who he is.

Tomlin is one of those guys who is equipped differently. He’ll get in your face after a dunk, beat you on every turnover and let you know he’s there.

“I loved his energy, his drive,” Atkinson said after the Nov. 19 loss to the Houston Rockets. “You hope we found a real gem here. I mean, he shows, he really shows some things with his length and athleticism, and he’s tough as nails. He doesn’t back down on anybody.”

That’s why the Cavs converted him, and why he’ll continue to be a force when he’s between those four lines.