Ray Allen once seemed destined to join the Cavs, but he insists that he’s unsure whether he’ll play again or where he’d do so if he were to return for a 19th season, as I examined earlier today. His apparent criteria for a would-be next team seem to rule out the Cavs, but some of the club’s players hope he’ll reconsider, as we note amid the latest from Cleveland:
- James Jones spent time recently with Allen in Connecticut and is “pretty sure” Allen knows that LeBron James and many of the Cavs would like him to play with Cleveland this year, as Jones told reporters Wednesday, including Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “We talked about those things that are important to us, which are families, our legacies and our careers,” Jones said. “So he has a decision to make. Of course we’d love to have Ray. Hopefully he makes a decision that’s best for him, and hopefully it’s a decision to continue to play. But as far as where he goes and what he’s thinking, I don’t know.”
- James called Dion Waiters a few days before he made his choice to leave the Heat and return to Cleveland, telling the Cavs shooting guard to “be ready,” as Waiters tells Brendan Bowers of SLAM Online. Waiters also dismissed the idea that he and Kyrie Irving can’t co-exist on and off the court.
- The ability for James to hit free agency again next year and his apparent desire for the Cavs to trade for Kevin Love belies the four-time MVP’s assertion that he would patiently await the growth of the team’s young players, argues Bill Livingston of the Plain Dealer. It’s clear that James is exerting his leverage over GM David Griffin and company, Livingston writes.