Cleveland Cavaliers Signs Russia's Sasha Kaun To 2-Year Deal

The Cleveland Cavaliers added a big man to their rotation signing Russian center Sasha Kaun to a two-year deal.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported the signing and added that the second year of Kaun’s contract is a player option, which means that the Russian can explore free agency again after the 2015-2016 NBA season.

Kaun was a second round pick by the defunct Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA Draft or the 56th overall selection and his draft rights were acquired by the Cavaliers. Kaun never made the move to the NBA after deciding to sign a three-year contract with Russian club CSKA Moskow that year, and has played for the Russian club the last seven seasons.

The 30-year-old Kaun is the second Russian center in the team after Timofey Mozgov, and both has played for Cavaliers head coach David Blatt on the Russian basketball national team. Kaun has played in the United States in the past suiting up for the Florida Air Academy in high school and Kansas in college.

Kaun has had success with his teams both at the pro level and international play. He was part of the Russian team that won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, and has also won the Russian national championship with CSKA Moscow five times since 2008.

In the 2014-2015 Euroleague season, Kaun averaged 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 30 games for CSKA Moscow.

With the Cavaliers, Kaun is not expected to get major minutes, but he is pegged to serve as a back-up to Mozgov and Kevin Love. He will also serve as an insurance big man in Cleveland as they still have injury-prone Anderson Varejao in the roster.