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Cavaliers to make qualifying offer to Rodney Hood

CLEVELAND -- The Cavaliers intend to extend a $3.4 million qualifying offer to forward Rodney Hood, making him a restricted free agent and protecting the club if he receives any offers, according to multiple reports.

The team will make the offer to Hood before Friday's deadline. Cleveland.com first reported the Cavaliers' intentions with Hood.

The 25-year-old Hood had an interesting few months with Cleveland, which acquired him from Utah in that flurry of trades executed at the Feb. 8 deadline by general manager Koby Altman.

Hood struggled to blend into Cleveland's rotation, but he's young and inexpensive and the team believes the 6-foot-8 forward can help it stay competitive -- with or without LeBron James.

Hood started Cleveland's first playoff game before losing coach Tyronn Lue's trust and falling out of the rotation. He re-emerged in the NBA Finals and scored 15 points in the Game 3 loss to Golden State.

Hood averaged 10.8 points in 21 regular-season games with the Cavs.

Associated Press contributed to this report.