Cleveland Cavaliers Shouldn't Sweat LeBron James' Decision to Opt Out, Right?
For the second time in as many years, LeBron James has elected to become a free agent.
Of course, Northeast Ohio's native son wouldn't dare sign anywhere else, right?
Right?
Such is the nervous optimism circling Cleveland. Fans know full well James should return but are unable to forget one of the worst nights in the city's history five years ago.
Until James officially puts pen to paper, there's certainly at least some cause for concern. As Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group points out, while James plans to stay put, he also enjoys putting pressure on the Cavaliers' front office:
"James will take a wait-and-see approach while the Cavaliers tend to their housekeeping matters, league sources told Northeast Ohio Media Group. ...
... 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.
"
Cleveland has several other contracts to iron out with players like Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova, but everything always comes back to James.
His decision to rejoin the Cavs last summer brought them to within two wins of an NBA championship after four years of selecting atop the draft.
James means everything to the Cavaliers, so it's natural for Cleveland fans to sweat his newest decision.
Despite all the heartbreak people in the area have felt before, this time is different. James isn't delaying his latest contract to cause panic; he's just wisely taking advantage of a unique situation.
Front-Office Involvement
One of the major reasons James has yet to sign, and a factor in his return last summer, is his ability to have a voice in personnel decisions.
James called Love last offseason to pitch him on joining the Cavs. Weeks later, Love was in Cleveland. Shawn Marion, Mike Miller and James Jones all signed for under $3 million a season for the chance to play with James. The four-time MVP is a walking, talking recruitment tool, whether he's placing the calls or not.
Although he has no official front-office title, James makes his desires and opinions known to general manager David Griffin.
"We've heard from him every day pretty much," Griffin told Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "He's very engaged. ... He is not dark. It's been great. He's been very much engaged with us on a lot of different levels. It's been positive."
While Griffin and Co. would certainly still listen to what James had to say even if he were signed to a long-term contract, the fact he's delaying the signing simply enforces this aspect. Refusing to listen to James' ideas while he's an unrestricted free agent would be a very slippery slope indeed.
In an NBA world where players are gaining more and more leverage, James sits atop the mountain. Teams in the past have spent years clearing salary-cap space and delaying pursuit of other big free agents until they were sure James was no longer a possibility.
Refusing to blindly sign a max contract now keeps the pressure on the Cavs to provide elite talent around him while also keeping the door cracked open. It's something other superstars have failed to do and are now paying the price for, notes Ken Berger of CBS Sports.
"So not only does James' contractual maneuvering allow him to squeeze out every dollar he can legally be paid, it also gives him unspoken leverage over the personnel decisions that are made around him in Cleveland. It is why James is enjoying an unprecedented run of three consecutive summers of power and influence, and Carmelo Anthony is stuck in New York with a five-year, $124 million contract and a rebuilding roster.
"
To be fair to Griffin, Cleveland's front office did an excellent job of surrounding James with talented, complementary pieces following the trades for Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov last January. Had Love and Kyrie Irving not fallen to injury in the playoffs, the Cavaliers could have very well ended up winning their first title in franchise history.
With few future draft picks and no cap space to speak of, the Cavs must carefully maneuver this offseason to improve the team. If Love, Thompson, Shumpert and Dellavedova all agree to extensions, the Cavs should once again be title contenders. If Love decides to leave via free agency, things get much more cloudy.
James needs to make sure Griffin does his best to bring back last year's roster, while attempting to add a few value veterans as well.
Squeezing Extra Cash
Could James have made everything easier and just inked the original four-year max deal last summer? Absolutely. He could do the same now with a five-year contract in the $120-plus million range. Both scenarios would have James leaving around $50 million to $70 million on the table, something that just doesn't seem to make good business sense.
James is far from just a basketball player.
He's an entertainer, actor and very much a businessman. He's a student of the game and now a student of the salary cap.
Had James signed a max deal with the Cavaliers last summer, it could have only been for four years and around $90 million or $22.5 million per season.
By signing a two-year deal with a player option for 2015-16, James can ink new one-year contracts until the cap significantly rises starting next summer. James recently chose to forgo his $21.57 million option and will likely ink a new one-year deal with a similar second-year option. By opting out, James can cash in on an additional $400,000, per Vardon.
By waiting to sign a max deal while already a member of the Cavaliers, James increases his length of contract from four years to five, a number to keep an eye on now that he'll turn 31 in December. Waiting until next summer to sign such a max contract also increases the overall value to a combined $170 million, or $34 million per season, as Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders noted.
For James, this would have meant watching players such as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry cash in on monster deals, while he still played under the previous max. By the time those original four years were up in 2018, James would have been 33. Would Cleveland, or any other team, have still been willing to offer five years and $170 million or more?
Of course, James could just save everyone the trouble and admit he's waiting to sign a new deal until he can make the most money possible, but that's probably not the best public-relations look.
Make no mistake, however: James won't be the only star player to employ this tactic. With this year's free agency looming, look for others to sign similar one- and two-year deals, allowing them to hit the market again when cash is more readily available.
Original Reasons
Sometimes lost in the hoopla of rising salary caps and roster management lies the original reason James came back to Cleveland in the first place.
It's home.
No other city can offer a 30-minute drive, rather than a plane flight, back to his house in Bath Township. When James departed in 2010, his mansion, old high school, favorite burger joint, friends and hometown of Akron stayed put.
Leaving for Miami cast him as a villain at first, a role James despised. Still, many sided with his reasons for leaving, given that the Miami Heat had Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to counter Cleveland's Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison.
If he were to leave a second time, there's no telling the hit James' image would take. After such a heartfelt letter announcing his return, it would be a little hypocritical to abandon his relationship with Northeast Ohio that he claims is "bigger than basketball."
Even those who sided with him before, pointing to the inferior roster, would have little to say. It doesn't quite carry the same tune as before to claim, "But he only had Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson! How is anyone supposed to win with that?"
James returned because he knew Cleveland could quickly become a championship contender, and he still loved the area. Like so many of us, at times, he missed home.
In one of the more revealing parts of the letter, James states, "I always believed that I'd return to Cleveland and finish my career there."
Leaving now would tarnish the letter, one of the great digital writings in sports history, forever.
James, the best player in the world and unrestricted free agent, is in Cleveland to stay.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA for Bleacher Report since 2010.
.jpg?w=600 "Titans President Steps Down")
.jpg?w=600 "Best NFL Free Agents")
