Despite LeBron James imminently choosing to opt-out of his contract for 2015-16, it would be a monumental shock if he were playing for any team other than the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.
The four-time MVP’s incentive to hit the open market and sign a new contract isn’t only financial, but also strategic in terms of roster construction. By becoming a free agent, James creates immense leverage as his team faces expensive decisions on Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Matthew Dellavedova. And, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, he plans to maximize that influence by being the Cavaliers’ last domino fall to this summer.
James will take a wait-and-see approach while the Cavaliers tend to their housekeeping matters, league sources told Northeast Ohio Media Group.
The four-time MVP has a player option deadline of Monday, and he will decline to pick up that deal for next season.
The belief is James wants to observe how management goes about retaining and accumulating assets keep the organization in win-now mode and improve the roster.
James will officially decline his player option on July 29, 48 hours before the opening of free agency. How the first several days of July go will ultimately decide just how long he decides to play the waiting game.
If Love and Thompson reach quick, successful resolutions with Cleveland, for instance, it’s fair to assume that James will follow shortly after that. But should David Griffin low-ball his team’s many free agents in hopes of paying a smaller luxury tax bill, don’t be surprised when the world’s greatest player is still unsigned well into the month.
Somewhat surprisingly, Griffin says James has been “very engaged” with the Cavaliers’ front office since the season’s end, too. Via Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:
“We’ve heard from him every day pretty much,” Griffin said, following the 2015 NBA Draft. “He’s very engaged.”
[…]
“He is not dark,” Griffin said. “It’s been great. He’s been very much engaged with us on a lot of different levels. It’s been positive.”
That very much runs contrary to the approach The King took with the Miami Heat last summer and did with Cleveland four years prior. He allowed incumbent teams little access to his line of thinking in each of his two previous stints as a free agent, mostly leaving them in the dark when it came to his final decision to sign elsewhere.
Needless to say, it’s very encouraging for Cleveland that James is already an active participant in the team’s offseason. Not that there would ever be legitimate reason for worry; silence wouldn’t change the fact that he’ll be back in Northeast Ohio next season. For all those concerned by his choice to opt-out and the more who will be if he’s still a free agent in two weeks’ time, though, James’ engagement is just the latest sign his native home will stay his basketball one going forward.
