The Cavs only have two players under contract after 2010—Daniel Gibson and rookie JJ Hickson, for less than $6 million. But the Cavs have two advantages over all of the other teams. First, they have the ability to give LeBron more years and more money than any other team can offer him.
The second advantage the Cavs have is that they have three eight-figure contracts that expire either this season or next, so they can make a Pau Gasol-like trade to acquire players that would make LeBron happy.
For example, Allen Iverson is in the final year of a contract that pays him close to $22 million. Even if the Nuggets were to allow Iverson to walk, horrible contracts given to Kenyon Martin and Nene would still prevent the Nuggets from having any significant amount of cap space next summer.
What if the Cavs were to offer the Nuggets Ben Wallace, and the expiring contracts of Wally Szczerbiak and Eric Snow for Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin? The Nuggets would rid themselves of Martin's contract and have plenty of cap space in 2010, and the Cavs would add Allen Iverson. Don't you think LeBron might lean a little closer to staying in Cleveland if he was playing with Iverson?
The Raptors, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, and Oklahoma City will all have plenty of cap space, but none of them have a reputation for being desirable free agent destinations unless you count players like Jason Kapono, Brian Cardinal, and Mark Madsen.
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