The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Rodney Hood in one of their deadline-day trades this past season.

After averaging an impressive 16.8 points in just 27.8 minutes over 39 games for the Utah Jazz, Hood struggled to make much of an impact in Cleveland, averaging 10.8 points in 25.3 minutes over 21 regular-season contests before completely falling out of Tyronn Lue’s rotation in the playoffs.

Further, Hood brought negative attention upon himself when he reportedly refused to check into a blowout in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors.

Despite apologizing to his teammates, Hood claimed he didn’t actually refuse to check in and explained that it was a misunderstanding.

The team brushed it off and gave Hood some limited playing time later in the playoffs, including the Finals, but it appeared as though his time in Cleveland was most likely over.

However, that might not be the case, judging by a recent report.

A surprising strategy

After extending him a $3.4 million qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, Cleveland is now reportedly willing to match any offer he receives, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

“A team source said Hood, 25, remained in the team's plans -- a strong indication the team would match any offer he gets,” Vardon wrote.

Further, the team is still willing to exceed the salary cap and pay the price, despite losing LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers. Rather than rebuilding, they're apparently looking to move forward without the former face of their franchise.

"I think if there's a right opportunity and it's worth it for our franchise, then we can explore that," Cavs general manager Koby Altman said regarding the luxury tax. "I'm not saying we're definitely not going to go into the tax, but it's interesting now sort of being below it."

That’s an indication that the organization feels they can still make noise in the Eastern Conference. Due to Hood’s offensive skills, he could be in line for a massive workload if he returns to the Cavs now that LeBron is gone. In fact, he'd most likely start in James' place and would probably be tasked with being one of the team's go-to scorers alongside Kevin Love, JR Smith and company.

Since James (rightfully) ate up so much of the team’s offensive usage last season, there’s now a lot of opportunity for others to capitalize. Hood might be in line to do just that if he returns to the team.