National Basketball Association

Cavaliers will bring C Larry Sanders back to the NBA

Published Mar. 15, 2017 10:16 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

A week after losing Andrew Bogut to a broken leg 58 seconds into his Cavaliers career, Cleveland has added another backup big man in Larry Sanders.

According to Yahoo Sports, Sanders will undergo a physical Monday before signing a contract that will cover the rest of the season and will include a trigger date for 2017-18.

Bogut had been signed to add frontcourt depth for the defending champs, but Sanders might be an even more intriguing option. He has been out of the league since February 2015, when the Bucks bought him out of the final three years of a four-year, $44 million contract.

He met with the Cavaliers in late February, but they turned to Bogut first. Sanders, 28, was the 15th overall pick in the 2010 draft and reached his peak in 2012-13, when he averaged 9.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks as a rim protector for Milwaukee. That led to the big contract, but injuries, a bar fight that led to another injury, and two suspensions for violating the league’s anti-drug policy limited him to only 50 games in the next two seasons.

Sanders held a seven-team workout in Miami last month, according to Yahoo Sports, and apparently the Cavaliers liked what they saw. Cleveland will have to waive a player to make room for Sanders on the roster.