How Cleveland Cavaliers Can Bring LeBron James Home for One Final Run

Who says you can't go home again, again?

LeBron James choosing to sit courtside during Game 4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Boston Celtics second-round series made quite the stir in the NBA world. The 39-year-old choosing to take his seat after the game started so all eyeballs were on him was likely no accident, either.

Was this done to put some healthy pressure on the Los Angeles Lakers to make sure that max contract was coming? Probably.

Is it possible this was a scouting trip to get a close-up look at Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and others as potential future teammates? Possibly.

If James does want to return to Cleveland for the final stretch of his career, he has a few options. Let's take a look at all four, starting with the least likely to the most.

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Option 1: James Becomes Unrestricted Free Agent, Signs Veteran Minimum Deal with Cavs

We'll keep this brief.

James would need to decline a $51.4 million player option for next season and instead agree to play for the $3.3 million veteran minimum salary reserved for players with 10 years of service or more.

Even though he once took a pay cut in 2010 so the Miami Heat could sign Mike Miller and keep Udonis Haslem, giving up $48.1 million so the Cavs could maintain their full mid-level exception seems extremely unlikely now.

For someone who wants to be part of the ownership group that brings an expansion NBA team to Las Vegas, James isn't walking away from nearly $50 million now.

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Option 2: James Becomes Unrestricted Free Agent, Signs for $12.9 million Mid-Level Exception with Cavs

The Cavaliers won't have any cap space this summer, but avoiding the luxury tax does allow them the opportunity to use their full non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $12.9 million.

James almost certainly isn't signing for $3.3 million, but would $12.9 million move the needle?

This would allow the Cavs to retain their core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Max Strus, Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, Dean Wade and others without having to send back players in a potential trade. It gives James his best chance to win a title with this group, sliding into the starting lineup ahead of Strus.

Cleveland would be set up to maximize the rest of James' career, with Mitchell (27), Allen (26), Garland (24) and Mobley (22) already in or about to enter their primes.

Still, this is a lot of money for James to be leaving on the table. What other choices do both sides have?

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Option 3: James Becomes Unrestricted Free Agent, Lakers and Cavs Agree to Sign-and-Trade

Sign-and-trades are never easy, but they do happen. The Cavs acquired Strus from the Miami Heat in a three-team sign-and-trade last summer. Kevin Durant and D'Angelo Russell were part of a double sign-and-trade between the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in 2019. The Warriors didn't want to lose Durant, but they were determined to get something back for him lest he leave in free agency for nothing.

The Lakers could be under similar pressure now.

Unless Los Angeles can acquire a third star this offseason, James may be tired of still carrying the offensive load as he approaches his age-40 season. Playing alongside Mitchell with the Cavs would give him the opportunity to be the No. 2 for a change, a transition he should be more than happy to take on during the course of an 82-game season.

Of course, Mitchell is the first player the Lakers are asking for in exchange for James, however. Would the four-time MVP still want to come to the Cavs if Mitchell wasn't there? This seems unlikely.

Cleveland and L.A. would need to do some major haggling while trying to iron out a new contract for James. The move would also hard cap the Cavaliers, meaning they couldn't exceed the first tax apron of $178.7 million.

The Cavs are currently $19.7 million below the line before utilizing their mid-level exception, re-signing restricted free agent Isaac Okoro or making any additional signings or trades.

This option makes sure James gets paid, but is also the most complicated to pull off.

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Option 4: James Accepts $51.4 million Player Option and Requests Trade to Cavs

This seems like the most likely option overall.

James may not get a multi-year deal like with a sign-and-trade, but he doesn't have to take a pay cut this season, either. We saw James Harden pick up his $35.6 million player option last summer so that the Philadelphia 76ers could more easily trade him instead of choosing to become a free agent and having Philly attempt a sign-and-trade.

The Cavs wouldn't be hard capped this way, either. This means Cleveland could still trade for James, use its full $12.9 million mid-level exception and likely re-sign Okoro to a multi-year deal without going into the second tax apron.

The hard part becomes finding a deal that the Lakers would accept.

James can put all the pressure he wants on L.A. to figure out a trade, including threatening to sign with another team in free agency. The Lakers couldn't justify trading him for a package of salary filler like Strus, LeVert, Niang and Wade, though. The two sides would need to meet in the middle.

Assuming Mitchell is off the table, Garland becomes the most likely option to be included in a trade.

Garland is also a Klutch client and was picked by James in the 2022 All-Star draft ahead of Mitchell, Jimmy Butler and other more established players. James would likely push for him to stay, although this may be the line in the sand for the Lakers to draw.

With Garland's $36.7 million salary as a starting point to try to match James' $51.4 million, the Cavs would need to include a player like Allen, Mobley, Strus or LeVert for the money to work. Cleveland would likely balk at the addition of Allen or Mobley, especially since we don't know how many years James has left.

A package of Garland and LeVert with some potential draft picks added in (Cleveland has the No. 20 overall pick in 2024) may be the best middle ground. The Cavs could shift Mitchell to a full-time point guard role, slide Strus up to shooting guard and employ a big frontline of James, Mobley and Allen. The Lakers would pair Garland with Anthony Davis and would now have four first-round picks to go star-shopping with while keeping Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeVert and others.

This is the cleanest way for James to end up back in Cleveland. The veteran forward still gets paid, the Cavs look like title contenders, and the Lakers obtain enough pieces to reset a competitive roster around Davis.

If James comes home again, this is almost certainly the path he'll take.