The Cavaliers haven’t been able to make a significant move this offseason and apparently LeBron James is frustrated about that. According to a story by Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, James is unhappy that owner Dan Gilbert failed to extend the contract of GM David Griffin and his top assistant Trent Redden, which hampered the team’s trade talks.
Cleveland struck out in the Paul George and Jimmy Butler sweepstakes, while the Celtics got stronger by signing Gordon Hayward. James is partly to blame for the Cavs’ difficulty in acquiring another impact player. He urged the previous front office to re-sign Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith to big contracts and acquire role players such as Channing Frye, who remains on the payroll.
It’s expected that James will opt out of the final $35.6MM on his contract after next season and become an unrestricted free agent. When James signed up for a second stint with Cleveland, it was generally assumed that he’d finish his career in his home state. Given the rise of the Warriors and his irritation over the Cavs’ front office situation and the team’s stagnant roster, that’s far less certain.
Speculation has James joining up with another All-Star such as Paul George and signing with the Lakers next summer. Of course, that’s predicated on how much George enjoys playing in Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook. But the Lakers will have plenty of cap room to pursue top free agents, and James could more easily pursue his other business interests and movie career by taking his talents to Tinseltown.
It’s also within the realm of possibility that another team could swoop in and convince James that he’s the missing piece to its title run.
That brings us to our question of the day: Do you think LeBron James will remain with the Cavaliers beyond next season?
Please take to the comments section and share your thoughts on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
He’ll be 34, how much longer do you think he’ll be dominant? Not much longer playing the most minutes in the NBA. Can’t call the Cavs a super team if he can’t take a break without the team imploding.
He won’t go to the West that’s a terrible path to a championship. East is wide open as usual. Cavs will have to find a way to buyout or dump JR and Thompson.
It’d be way easier to dump TT. TT is actually a pretty nice player despite what people think. I think the problem is the group is peaking. They’ve won a championship and great for them, but I think Love is about to begin his decline, as well as guys like Smith, Shumpert, and even Kyrie maybe (even though Kyrie is still a Top 3 point guard). LeBron may be looking to bail out to a team like LA on the rise (which I’d love and hate as a Celtics fan) or maybe even back to Miami or something. I thought before the offseason there was no shot LeBron would leave Cleveland again, but now I’m not so sure.
Kyrie is not a top 3 pg .. retract that statement right this instant. Lmaoooo That is a very bold to say. Wall is leap and bounds better than kyrie .. kyrie is too 1 dimensional and can only play effective basketball in iso sets. TT has a horrible contract and no one would take on that contract unless they get a first rounder or draft picks with him and the cavs have zero trade-able picks.
Normally I hate to say this but you have NO idea what you’re .talking about.
Kyrie…matter of opinion so I have nothing to say.
Tristan’s contract: Are you kidding? The was a horrible contract for the 1st year. Since, have you seen the contract given out to PF/C in the last 2 years?
TT = owed 2/$35 mil
Facts: 7th in off rebounds, 15th in total rebounds
noted for defensive energy, durability, etc
vs
Steve Adams= 4/$100 mil
Mozgov= 3/$47 mil
Biyombo= 3/$51 mil
Mahinme= 3/$48 mil
Noah= 3/$56 mil
If the Cavs wanted to trade him he would easily be the best option on the market for defensive oriented bigs. Shorter terms and same if not more production.
Half the league would gladly take TT and his contract for free, Cavs wouldnt have any trouble giving him away and they would be stupid to do it.
Sometimes the best move is no move.
Cleveland struck out on PG and Butler because they have nothing to trade. The only young asset they ever had in the 2nd lebron era was Wiggins and they foolishly traded him. No one wants kevin love , old bench players or late picks for a superstar
Tons of teams would take Love. With Wiggins they probably wouldnt have won a championship. Rookies don’t win championships and Wiggins defense would be shredded by the Warriors.
Same old song and dance from LeBron. Every time he fails to win a championship, he blames someone else–his teammates, the coach, the owner. Then he bails on everyone and starts the same horse manure with another team. What he fails to understand is this kind of behavior will tarnish his legacy, and people will eventually stop caring.
LeBron is the perfect example of why you shouldn’t let the inmates run the asylum. To put in the nicest way possible, LeBron doesn’t not have the big picture in mind. You need an overview and he, or any player, is too biased to make decisions because they are only thinking of what would make THEM better not the team. A GM needs to listen to a star’s input, but ultimately make the decision without their involvement. If the star doesn’t like it, tough. He is an employee, he will just have to deal with it or quit.
Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzski both saw/see the big picture. Exception not the rule I know but some do see it.
Yeah 7 straight finals, LeBron clearly has no idea what he’s doing. The team he’s being “blamed” for building is the exact team that beat the greatest regular season team of all time.
4 of those finals came when LeBron was in Miami and the Heat had the best team in the NBA thanks to Pat Riley.
And let’s not act that Draymond being suspended and Steph Curry being at maybe 75% didn’t have anything to do with last year, just like 2015 would’ve been different with Kyrie and K-Love. The fact of the matter is the Warriors were way better then the Cavs this year and have gotten better this offseason while the Cavs for the most part stayed the same.
We can say he built this team but the guys he decided to play with simply did not step up(Shumpert,Love,Tristan,Deron) leading to them losing. They can beat the Warriors next season with the current roster, Lue can’t be dumb enough to not adjust next season apart from Game 1 every game was winnable. Korver makes that 3 and the series could have swung Cleveland’s way.
The Cavs have no shot against the Warriors as currently assembled
A part of me says ‘LeBron take a pay cut’ but the other half is immensely confused at Dan Gilbert’s approach at this off season.
I love the Cavs but it is concerning how dependent on LeBron they are.
They’ll have little trouble getting thru the east but they still need to tinker the roster to have opportunity to score some points against Golden State
I own LeBron.com and it pains me to say it but I hope he signs with the Lakers next year. I need his global brand to explode in LA. A domain name doesn’t get any better than that.
Damn good investment.
I hear Google.com is right up there.
Hopefully the Lakers don’t want him. We just got out from under the shadow of Kobe, and next year is not the time to bring in a primadonna on the decline.
Good post. Completely agree! Stay away
Lakers!
Carmelo Anthony
Kyle O’Quinn
Courtney Lee
for
Tristan Thompson
Iman Shumpert
Channing Frye
Cedi Osman
2018 Portland 1st Rd Pick
2021 Cleveland 1st Rd Pick
I don’t think the salaries would match.
NYK would be sending like 43 million+(I think) and the Cavs would only be sending like 30ish
Worked on Trade Checker
It was 42M and 36M (plus Osman)
CLE was able to do it by invoking 25%
Trade Rule, plus they have 4
Trade Exceptions.
(Originally had no Lee and Frye)
2021 1st is risky. Lebron will be gone or out of his prime by then. Could be a really high pick. Without Lebron Cleveland is irrelevant and will be awful
That’s why I imagine NY would insist on either 2020 or 2021, if they’re smart.
Cavs don’t have Portland’s 2018 1st rounder, and the first pick they have to trade is 2021. They couldn’t move 2018 or 2020, as you mentioned, until after the pick is made b/c they don’t have a pick in 2019…also, the Knicks aren’t the smartest organization, but that’s a terrible trade for them.
My apologies, It is not Portland’s pick, it is their own, which they got back from Portland in the swap for 26 (Swanigan).
I think the no trading of picks in consecutive years is bull, but looks like you are right.
So make that the 2021 pick and Birdman’s trade exception ? IDK
I am a Knicks fan, and I think this is the best they can do under the circumstances.
I would trade TT to another team for picks after getting him in this scenario.
Shumpert was decent in NY, and plays D at least. Frye is an exp. contract.
Osman is the wild card.
James, Wall, Paul George in laker land next season.
I wonder if Lebron goes to play with CP3 and Harden in Houston. Wouldn’t surprise me at all.
That makes three players that need the ball at all time.
Doesn’t matter. And I’m not sure if watch Lebron lately but he had gotten a lot less selfish, he has all around game..points, rebounds and assist. He doesn’t need the ball ans as he gets older he wants to be surrounded by players that can help him win instead of being the only guy or main guy. Him and CP3 are great friends so o see it happening. I highly doubt he goes to my Lakers. I can see him going to OKC or Houston before the Lakers. Only way I see him going to the Lakers is if they can somehow get Cousins and George as well which I guess isn’t completely out of reach if they dumb Clarkson and Dengs contracts as well as Randle. But still seems unlikely. I just don’t see him going to the Lakers at all. I think he goes to play with some buddies to end his career.
lol LeBron in OKC. Sometimes I think you guys are just trolling me
Chris, you never know man..he wants to win. Imagine Westbrook, George and Lebron on the same team.
Will be an interesting dilemma for James for sure. However when you have contracts that high, it’s impossible to make trades especially w/o a real GM like Griffin. It’ll eventually come out what exactly was the philosophical reason for the Gilbert/Griffin split. E.g. Which players was Griff unwilling to trade.
I think the GM, in this salary cap era, are given way too much credit. There is no “mystical” ability Griffin could’ve used to get Butler or George. The Cavs are limited in how much money they could spend and there’s little possibility that the rebuilding Bulls or Pacers would take anyone on this other than LBJ or Kyrie. Other than to flip him again Kevin Love wouldn’t be an optimal player for those two teams to acquire since he won’t be around once either team is ready to compete in 3 or 4 years.
I doubt there was serious thought to trading Irving and I don’t think Gilbert would’ve stopped Griffin from trading Love if it were to bring in another BIG 3 era.
I think people forget that the same way Griffin was promoted from assistant to GM so can Griffin do with the current asst GM. Relax people. Cavs are still the #1 or #2 team in the East.
They’re thinking championship, not conference. If the Cavs do not win next year LBJ will leave. Lakers will have the money after next season while most teams will not. Only way LBJ ends up in Houston (with or without Melo there) is if he and Paul take less, less, less money. If Melo is there Melo would also have to opt out and take way less money. It’s possible but not likely. All 3 have chosen money time and time again. One team that could sneak in as a destination for LBJ is, OKC. If George and Westbrook gel right, I see George staying and their front office dangling that big 3.
People talking about lebron taking a paycut obviously dont understand the rules of the league. They also don’t understand the cap and luxury taxes, b/c they’d know that it wouldn’t matter what LeBron would get at this point, if he could change his contract, which he can’t, and they wouldn’t have the space to add someone of significance anyway….
Plus taking pay cuts defeats the purpose of a salary cap.
There’s a lot of basketball fans that couldn’t care less about poor LeBron’s issues.
Poor baby!!
Even though they need JR Smith and Shumpert right now, Thompson, Frye, and those guys were the guys they needed to find a way to move this offseason in money for money type of deals, and they obviously couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. But pretty much, those 4 deals are currently hurting them in their ability to make changes/get better. The Kyle Korver trade last year was also terrible, and I mentioned it at the time. I thought that would hurt them, and it’s worse b/c they gave away their 2019 1st round pick
They brought over Cedi Osman. I’ve heard and seen some good things about him defensively, so let’s see how that translates. They really need that. That being said, their only assets were his rights and their 2021 1st round pick. My guess is that the bold/creative stuff that was pretty much their only option for making changes and getting better was too risky for them, or they just couldn’t get a trade together involving that much money going out and coming back….and that’s where you see them sign guys like Calderon and Jeff Green. I just don’t understand why they haven’t tried to get better defensively. Green should help on offense, but there’s 2 sides of.the ball, and nobody plays defense on that team, besides Lebron, Shumpert, and I guess JR Smith sometimes
Should be interesting to see what happens. Next year, I could see him staying in Cleveland, coming back to Miami, going out to LA or Houston, or possibly going to San Antonio. Philly might be a darkhorse
Lebron is definitely whiny and all that, but this time I have to say his complaints are 100% valid. It’s one thing for a team to be inactive in free agency, it’s another for a team to be a complete dumpster fire.
Not bringing back Griffin over money when he was already like the cheapest GM in basketball? And then not bothering to hire anyone else new at all?
Cavs are doing their best Knicks impression right now. I’d be pissed too if I were LeBron or a Cavs fan. They are taking a great opportunity and completely demolishing it.
The Cavs can play with the Warriors, they now have an athletic forward they can throw at Durant in Green who can also score. Take your chances with Felder instead of Deron because Felder plays with a chip on his shoulder and will actually score on GS in the Finals, Deron is washed.
I disagree with much of what you say and it pains me because I tend to lean towards the side of the player vs ownership in most cases.
Last year’s salary cap was $94 mil. The luxury tax limit was $113 mil. The Cavs, in effort to return to the floor the core team from the previous championship team, spent $126 mil not including a tax of $45 mil. That’s $171 mil in salary. Who could they possibly add to this team via FA???? It’s not like baseball where you can spend an unlimited amount of money. All they had to spend in FA was the vets minimum and I think a mid-level exception.
I don’t understand why Gilbert didn’t bring back Griffin but let’s get this straight, there is SOMEONE acting as the GM. It’s the assistant GM, which btw is what Griffin was before he was promoted to GM. Are people clueless? Do people not understand that a GM, in many cases, doesn’t handle the details of a transaction? He more or less oversees the proceedings. The same way Griffin was promoted from assistant to GM when the last guy was fired might be the same thing that happens to the current assistant GM. Just because he may not have been officially promoted doesn’t mean the duties of a GM are not being adequately handled.
To compare the Cavs to the Knicks is an insult and I’m a lifelong diehard Knicks fan. I would LOVE the Knicks to be so lucky to have an owner that has done what Gilbert has done. Even without LBJ he still was willing to spend to try and put together a good team, despite the fact he failed at doing so.
Lebron has nothing to be pissed off about. He and his partner Rich Paul are the agents for Thompson and Smith and BOTH players held out until training camp and forced the Cavs to bid against themselves to squeeze out every single ounce of money they could. Every player and every need LBJ expressed a desire for was filled. Who approved it knowing that a every $1 mil spent was going to cost him an additional mil or 2 or 3 in luxury tax? Gilbert. Now of course he benefits in terms of the value of the franchize but let’s cut dude some slack.
The Cavs are stretched. They made commitments to keep a championship team together for multiple years. Trading Kevin Love for a different all-star player isn’t bridging the gap between the Cavs and Warriors. The only player I think that MIGHT be available that MIGHT have had enough of an upside above Love imo was DeMarcus Cousins. Other than him, it needs to be the big 3 + an additional all-star which is exactly what the GSW were able to do when they acquired Durant. GSW were in a different situation simply because the nature of their roster and the years in the game limited how much some of their players can earn. In the next two years the GSW are going to be where the Cavs are now. Hugely over the lux cap and limited in what they can do.
People need to appreciate the complexity of the Cavs vs GSW dynamic. And honestly, that’s the competition. Boston isn’t scaring anybody. They got Hayward and lost Bradley and others. And if they don’t bring back IT then they fall back even more.
LeBron to Philly. He trusts the process.
LeBron confuses me sometimes.
I wonder if once LBJ retires he becomes a GM/president of operations for a team and makes all the moves, I mean he has a lot of practice so it should work. Plus it would be interesting to see what type of team he could put together.
All of TT, JR and Shumpert contracts all have negative value. The fact that there are worse contracts out there (most given out in the summer of 2016) doesn’t make their contracts better, in fact, it makes them worse as the 2016 contracts (caused in part by the league’s misguidance) contribute to the current cap space squeeze. TT and JR have value to the Cavs (as currently contstituted) despite uneven performances, but nobody else can rely on these two to produce near their contracts. Shumpert is more of a salary dump candidate. Of course, anyone can be traded but not without taking back other bad contracts (and bad contracts don’t mean bad players, and perhaps better fits or at least contributors to a fresh dynamic).
If he is so concerned with winning why hasn’t he taken a lower salary to allow the Cavs more room to sign better players.
Please don’t tell me he shouldn’t have to take less. I’m not saying he has to take less.
He has the OPTION to take less to get better teammates.
It’s his choice. At some point you have to decide whether or not you want to win or make the absolute most money.
This also applies to Hayward. If he wants to win a championship then why couldn’t he take less so Avery Bradley could stay?
Again, not saying they have to. But don’t complain if your team is weaker than it could be.
KD understood this. Love him or hate him, he helped keep the key players around him. You’re right: LeBron easily could take less to give his team room to maneuver. But he doesn’t have to and he didn’t.