James' foreseeable future is in Cleveland. With the ability to opt out of the two-year deal he signed with the Cavaliers last offseason, James must now decide just how much he wants to influence the Cavs as they enter a summer full of uncertainty and potentially massive spending.
The Cavs prefer he give a lot of input. In past similar situations, James has skewed toward passive-aggressiveness from the shadows. Taking such a position now would only add to the anxiety the franchise is sure to feel.
As if the Golden State Warriors' championship celebration on the Cavs' floor Tuesday night wasn't bad enough, the Cavs' immediate future is troublesome: James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova could all be free agents by July 1.
James, Love and Smith have player options for next season and all are expected to decline them. Thompson, Shumpert and Dellavedova are expected to receive qualifying offers from the Cavs and they will become restricted free agents, giving the team the right to match any offer they receive. And the extensions Kyrie Irving (five years, $90 million) and Anderson Varejao (two years, $20.3 million) signed last year are also set to kick in.
Internally, the Cavs have discussed their payroll needing to balloon to between $100 million and $110 million for next season, according to sources.
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When James does re-sign with the Cavs this summer, it's probable it will be to another one-year contract plus a player option. Even if this route makes financial sense for James with the salary cap expected to surge following the 2016-17 season, it will keep the Cavs uncomfortable going forward.
But that's the point: He doesn't want his organization to be comfortable.
Welcome to the modern NBA, where James doesn't just control every facet of the game, he controls every facet of the organization.
Chicago Bulls restricted free-agent guard Jimmy Butler has plans to pursue shorter-term offer sheets this summer, resisting the Bulls' initial plans to offer him a five-year, maximum contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
As the NBA's salary cap is set to dramatically rise beginning with the 2016-17 season, Butler has become far less interested in locking himself into the five-year, $90 million-plus deal the Bulls are expected to present him on July 1, league sources said.
For Chicago, there's no challenge to retaining Butler. As a restricted free agent, the Bulls have matching rights on any offer sheet. Nevertheless, Chicago could be faced with Butler's agents at Relativity Sports, Happy Walters and Steve McCaskill, loading up a short-term offer sheet that includes a trade kicker and the potential loss of Butler to unrestricted free agency in 2017.
As Butler spends time in Los Angeles this summer, a stretch that's included an overseas "Entourage" promotional jaunt with producer Mark Wahlberg, Butler's intrigue with signing a potential Los Angeles Lakers offer sheet has increased, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Butler has preliminary plans to pursue meetings with several teams once free agency starts in July, sources said. Several teams pursuing Butler told Yahoo Sports that they're under the impression a short-term, max money offer sheet is the wisest way to approach Butler this summer.
Unless Bulls officials bring Butler a shorter-term deal that's more favorable to his long-term earning power, they'll likely be waiting to match an offer sheet, league sources said.
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Chicago has to sell Butler on a post-Tom Thibodeau era under Fred Hoiberg to get him fully comfortable with the franchise's direction. What's more, there's an increasing belief surrounding Butler and point guard Derrick Rose that they need to come to a greater understanding about how to best co-exist on the floor.
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No. 3: Report: Gordon likely to opt in with Pelicans — Eric Gordon hasn't always had the easiest go of things as a member of the New Orleans Hornets. From him initially not wanting the team to match the offer sheet he signed with the Phoenix Suns in 2012 to an array of injuries that have kept him off the court, it has been a bumpy road. He has an opt-out clause in his contract this summer and, while he did look at leaving in search of a new deal elsewhere, it seems Gordon is sticking with New Orleans. Shams Charania of RealGM.com has more:
Despite leaning strongly toward exercising his player option for next season, Eric Gordon has scoured the NBA market for a potential long-term deal out of New Orleans, a league source told RealGM.
Gordon has expressed excitement about the Pelicans' future, which includes the hiring of Alvin Gentry and his own likely return. The head coach led in the Phoenix Suns' recruitment to sign Gordon to a free-agent offer sheet in 2012.
In weighing the league landscape, Gordon has looked into four- or five-year contract possibilities with other teams, a source said.
Nevertheless, accepting the $15.5 million option to enter free agency in 2016 has been the expected decision for the 26-year-old guard.
Gordon averaged 13.4 points and 3.8 assists in 61 games last season, a productive yet injury-hampered year. He has spent four of his seven NBA seasons with New Orleans, following a three-year run with the Los Angeles Clippers in which he scored 22.3 points per game in 2010-11.
No. 4: Nowitzki 'guessing' Ellis will opt out — As is often their wont, the Dallas Mavericks have revamped their roster time and again over the last few offseasons with few constants remaining on the roster. Two such players, though, are Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis, the latter of whom holds an opt-out clause on his contract this summer. According to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ellis seems likely to test the free-agent waters this summer, per Nowitzki:
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki believes teammate Monta Ellis plans to opt-out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
"I haven't talked to him lately, but I'm guessing he wants to opt-out,'' Nowitzki said Tuesday. "Why would he not?
"He's had two phenomenal seasons here. He was our closer, he was our leading scorer last year and I'm sure for his market value he feels like he was a little underpaid.''
Certainly, Ellis and his representatives are fully aware of the three-year, $46 million contract the Mavs signed small forward Chandler Parsons to last summer and believes Ellis is worth at least a contract of that nature. For now, Ellis has until June 24 to decide if he will opt-out of his current contract with the Mavs, or go ahead and play next season for the remaining $9.08 million on his deal.
"We'll have to wait and see what happens this week, but my gut feeling would be that he's going to opt out and then that's another decision we've got to make,'' Nowitzki said. "He's been phenomenal for us.
"He's another guy I'd love to keep and build on, because he's been so phenomenal for us. But we don't know.''
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