The saga that is the life of what many consider basketball’s greatest talent has taken a new course with the reports that leaked on Sunday. The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly positioning themselves to make a run at LeBron James when he can be a free agent in 2014:
According to James Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal:
“Executives and agents around the league are convinced the Cavaliers won’t do anything to jeopardize their ability to sign a free agent to a max contract during the summer of 2014, when LeBron James can again become a free agent. As fans in Northeast Ohio continue to howl and remain divided about the possibility of his return, more and more people around the league believe there is a strong possibility James will indeed return to Cleveland after next season.
“The Cavs are well aware of this, too, and won’t take on a bad contract if it compromises their cap space in two years. That means any bad contract they would obtain in a potential trade would have to expire after next season. It doesn’t make a deal impossible, but it dramatically reduces the field — and it decreases the price the Cavs can command since their future obligations would be brief.”
The vivid images of the summer of 2010 still resonate in my mind following LeBron’s famous TV special titled The Decision: burned jerseys across the nation, people arrested on the streets of Cleveland and message board throughout the world wide web discussing how much of a coward James was leaving his hometown Cavaliers for South Beach.
In the summer of 2010 James joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat and has reached the NBA Finals twice, winning a championship while transitioning from the villain persona he was labeled to a hero achieving such an accomplishment.
The Cavs are essentially a team James would strongly have to consider even after his success in Miami. Kyrie Irving would presumably be his running mate with much more talent surrounding the two than LeBron’s first stint in Cleveland. Players such as Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller will have hopefully matured enough into the their roles with experience.
One can only expect the Cavs to receive a lottery pick again this season after an abysmal season thus far, which would not only be interesting trade bait but possible talent to help the team.
Now of course this might not happen, but the possibility is strong and the idea will be entertained up until he is courted by teams once again in the 2014 offseason. Time will tell with this situation, but one could only imagine the chances.
