Cavaliers Banking on Iman Shumpert's Development as Role Player Extraordinaire

Iman Shumpert's new contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers has nothing to do with the player he is now.

It has everything to do with the player Cleveland is banking on him to become later.

Shumpert and the Cavaliers came to terms on a four-year, $40 million deal not even a full day into free agency, according to Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy. The agreement includes a player option after the third year and was confirmed by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

Contracts with an average annual salary of $10 million aren't typically handed out willy nilly. Not to injury-prone guards shooting under 40 percent from the floor for their career with a sub-11 player efficiency rating.

But every lucrative contract signed this summer comes with a disclaimer—one that applies to everyone, superstars and role players, DeAndre Jordan and Khris Middleton, Kevin Love and Iman Shumpert. So before freaking out, heed Kennedy's words:

When the salary cap explodes in 2016 and 2017, Shumpert's salary won't look so gaudy. It's that simple.

Assuming standard raises, the second year of his deal, in 2016-17, will be worth around $9.6 million. That's just 10.8 percent of next season's projected $89 million cap. And that's the equivalent of earning less than $7.3 million against next season's salary cap.

In the third year of his deal, when the cap hits $107 million, he'll earn roughly $10.3 million, or 9.6 percent percent of the league's salary ceiling. And that's the same as making around $6.5 million next season.

Now, as a fan of another team, feel free to freak out. The idea of paying Shumpert, a career enigma, 10 percent of any cap isn't too savory from the outside. But that's because it's the outside, and Shumpert's value is tied specifically to inside Cleveland.

The Cavaliers aren't able to funnel that $40 million elsewhere—except, of course, onto J.R. Smith's prepaid Green Dot card.

Shelling out contracts to LeBron James, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova, Love and perhaps Smith will cost them a fortune. Brooklyn Nets owner and luxury-tax-paying aficionado Mikhail Prokhorov will be jealous.

Jacob Rosen of WFNY provides a nice estimate of the player-salary bill Cleveland will be footing (via Scott Sargent of WFNY):

Essentially unable to acquire other players outside of trading for them, the Cavaliers have no choice but to invest in whom they already employ. That includes Shumpert, who is still only 25 years old and capable of improving.

Mostly, though, Shumpert is the exact kind of player any James-led team needs: a non-ball-dominant wing who can score off the catch on drive-and-kicks and offers a sliver of upside on the defensive end.

Never mind his poor showing close to the basket. His athleticism never fully returned after he tore his ACL as a rookie, and he shot well under 60 percent near the rim last season, per Deadspin's Kevin Draper—which, for the record, is gross:

But the Cavaliers aren't paying him for his rim assaults. They don't have enough touches to go around anyway.

Between James', Love's and Irving's volume usages and Smith's fill of ill-advised off-the-dribble long twos, the Cavaliers are set. They need those who can thrive away from the action.

And while Shumpert didn't tear it up from three-point range last season (34.2 percent), he performed nicely as a standalone shooter, finding nylon on 38.7 percent of his spot-up treys. His field-goal percentage also skyrocketed to 44.8 percent when sharing the floor with James.

Shumpert's defense is even more valuable from a sheer logistics standpoint. As Dan Feldman wrote for NBC Sports: "He’s the only strong wing defender on the roster. LeBron James isn’t interested in that role over a full season anymore."

Opposing shooting guards and small forwards mustered just a 12.9 PER when being defended by Shumpert last season, per 82games.com. Rival scorers also shot under 33 percent from deep against him.

Theoretically, Shumpert is someone the Cavaliers can stick on the opposition's best perimeter scorer, even if it's a dice roll. He prevents a 30-year-old James from chasing around athletic wings and slippery point guards all night while simultaneously shouldering a ridiculously demanding burden on the offensive end.

That's what the Cavaliers are paying $40 million for.

That's who they're hoping Shumpert becomes.

It's fitting, then, that Shumpert addressed his signing with the Instagram caption: "You don't buy jewelry in this league, you earn it."

After everything he's shown, Shumpert hasn't earned his new contract. He is not worth $40 million. Not under the 2015-16 salary cap, not under the 2016-17 salary cap, not under any salary cap. And the Cavaliers know this. 

It's just that they're not paying Shumpert for what he's done, or in spite of what he hasn't done, or because they're not in any position to cut him loose.

They're paying him because of his three-and-D skill set and the hope that his ceiling in a three-and-D NBA will make it worthwhile later.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@danfavale.