The Cavs are facing a big decision this summer as Dan Gilbert has to decide whether to pay general manager David Griffin the high price that a top level GM makes (in the $5 million range) or let him walk, likely to Orlando, and fill his spot. The Magic are patiently waiting on Gilbert to give them permission to speak with Griffin about their open position of president of basketball operations, but Gilbert has yet to oblige.
Griffin’s contract runs out at the end of June, and with no substantial offer being made his way by the Cavs as of mid-May, the crossroads in Cleveland’s front office is rapidly approaching. Now, there aren’t an awful lot of major moves that Cleveland will need to make or be able to make this offseason due to the vast majority of their core being locked up for the near future. However, it takes a deft hand to build a roster around LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and the rest that can provide everything they need while working with mostly minimum salaries.
To this point, Griffin’s done well to bring in helpful veterans who are happy to provide what they can for the opportunity to get a ring (see: Williams, Deron). However, dealing with the demands of James, who isn’t afraid to swing his weight around in the organization to get what he wants, isn’t something for everyone. There’s long been a joke that LeBron is the true GM of the Cavs, starting back when he joined the team and top pick Andrew Wiggins was quickly flipped for Kevin Love.
Kris Humphries, a soon-to-be free agent, thinks the Cavs need to do one of two things to solve their GM dilemma: either re-sign Griffin to a long-term deal or go ahead and make it official and let LeBron be the GM and pay him more.
The Cavs need to either give Lebron James extra money for being the GM, or give David Griffin a long term deal. #Paythatmanhismoney 💰💰💰
— Kris Humphries (@KrisHumphries) May 16, 2017
There have been plenty of people to make the “LeBron should just be the GM” joke, but I love that even NBA players are in on it now. If they let Griffin walk, the Cavs will likely just promote from within, and James will continue to carry the most weight in the organization, so why not give him the title, too? We had player coaches back in the day, so why not a player-GM?
