Cleveland Cavaliers center Andre Drummond made it clear he plans to pick up his option for next season with the team.

In an interview on ESPN’s “Le Batard & Friends Network” podcast, the former All-Star says he will “definitely” be in Cleveland next season. Drummond has a $28.7 million player option for 2020-21 and will be looking to improve on the showing he made with the Cavs after he was traded there at midseason.

“Yeah, it’s going to be hard to give up, so you can count on me being in Cleveland still,” Drummond said when pressed on whether he plans to exercise his option.

“I definitely will be in Cleveland.”

The Cavs acquired Drummond from the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Knight, John Henson and a second-round pick. Drummond made two All-Star teams in Detroit and left the franchise as its all-time leader in rebounds and field-goal percentage. In eight games with the Cavs, Drummond averaged 17.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 55.2%

Although the Cavs went 19-46, drove away a respected former college coach in John Beilein and finished with the East’s worst record, the season wasn’t a complete wash.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was energized by how his team pulled together following Beilein’s exit. Cleveland went 5-6 after Bickerstaff took over, showing a competitive spirit in several comeback wins.

“The guys could have punted, but they didn’t,” he said. “They went out every single night and they competed. The foundation for the good teams is people willing to buy in to something greater than themselves. And that’s where I thought we were. And we have to keep milking that as best as we possibly can during these times.”

Cleveland is one of eight teams whose COVID-19-interrupted season ended when the league decided to resume play with 22 teams in Florida next month.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.