The impact that LeBron James has on the basketball world goes beyond the court. The superstar has helped a number of teammates land significant paydays, as outlined by Jason Lloyd of The Athletic.
“[James] definitely puts you in position to be successful to showcase what you’re great at and he enhances it on the bigger stage,” teammate Tristan Thompson, one of the chief beneficiaries of James’ impact said. “Eight and eight on a championship team is worth more than eight and eight on a .500 team or a team that doesn’t make the playoffs. Of course, that’s definitely a huge factor.”
Beyond Thompson, Lloyd lists players like J.R. Smith (who is represented by the same agency as James and Thompson) but also Matthew Dellavedova, whose scrappy play under the postseason spotlight landed him a $38MM contract.
“If we didn’t go to the Finals, I don’t get that playoff experience,” Dellavedova said. “I think the effect he has on everybody — he impacts so much that people don’t even think of. I think he has a role in a lot of things. An impact on everything.”
There’s more from the Cavs:
- In the same feature at The Athletic, James opens up to Lloyd about the idea of owning an NBA franchise in the future. There’s no guarantee that opportunity comes in Cleveland, however. “To be an owner of any team would be crazy. If this thing opened up and I’m in a position financially, and I’ve got the right team around me, obviously. But who’s to say Dan will [sell]?” James said.
- It’ll take some time for Isaiah Thomas to get used to playing with LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers but he tells Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com that he’s well-suited to make that transition quicker than most. “Me being older, me knowing the game a little bit more and being a student of the game, I’m going to be able to adjust quicker than somebody else could,” Thomas said.
- The Cavs aren’t interested in making a move for Sixers big man Jahlil Okafor but their interest in Greg Monroe would be higher, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com says in a question-and-answer with readers.
The way former Cavs GM David Griffin put it on ESPN was while Lebron is a great player, he takes the franchise he’s playing for hostage, like after this season. ESPN keeps saying he has a basketball side and a business side. Steven A. Smith said he wished he’d concentrate on the basketball side. I’ll bet the Cavs wished they’d have sat Kyrie and Lebron down before the trade now. I would like to see Lebron be an owner some day.
He does hold the Cleveland franchise hostage, and if he leaves if will have left them with nothing but a bunch of bad contracts that he basically “forced” them to sign or acquire…
Now that Cleveland at least has one decent asset left, I hope he doesn’t push them to trade it away…That will really be the only true asset they’ll have after he’s gone…
But with having LeBron James it’s a give and take…He’s given the city of Cleveland and their fans so much…
Although, honestly, when it comes down to it, I’m not so sure that the fans even care that their team will live in mediocrity for the next 5-7 years, at least after he leaves, since He and Kyrie were able to deliver their franchise a title…
Cavs don’t have any contracts that last three seasons after he leaves. They have an all star in Love and a high lottery pick. Not sure how they are screwed for the next 5 years. Pretty good situation to be in after winning a championship and being to multiple finals.
Obviously they have that asset because Kyrie forced their hand to make a move. They were simply smart in addressing current needs (IT as an eventual replacement of Kyrie this season and Crowder) but also collecting an asset they can either flip short-term (trade deadline for perhaps….ummm……Cousins) or hold on to if he pick looks to be a top 3 and the draft possibilities look good enough).
However, I think most teams that look for long-term success have to face the reality that you’re going to be left with “bad” contracts.
I also think we need perspective on what a bad contract is.
Love @ age 29 @ 2/$46 and a PO of $25 mil to me is a very attractive contract and would be easy to move if desired.
Tristan @ age 26 @ 3/$52 mil is looking like a not so great deal simply because of his injury/current performance but I think his PT time has suffered because of the new influx of talent and his revised role.
Smith @ age 32 @ 3/$32 mil- Injuries and inconsistency makes this contract look bad but relative to current NBA contracts being handed out an avg of $11 mil per isn’t burdensome if the guy is on court. Worse if the guy is injured.
Shump @ age 27 @ 1/$10 mil and a PO of $11 mil. It’s a 1 year deal for $10 mil. No biggie.
Assets are the biggest problem to wonder about. Cavs have the Nets pick and their own 1st rounder. Their 2019 and 2020 1st rick is protected 1-10 so if LBJ leaves and they suck then their back in the lottery hunt. They own all their picks outright from 2021 and on.
The NBA is just the worst sport to try and rebuild which is what the Cavs would have to do if LBJ leaves. They would have the Love contract that could net them a 1st rounder imo.
Whether Cavs players are worth their salaries or not, it seems the only Cav players with positive trade values were Irving, and the Boston players traded for Irving. Probably all the Boston players have positive value.
After the title year, Smith held out and James pressured the FO to up his 1yr/5mil to $12.8, 13.8(current), 14.7, and for the 4th yr, 15.7 with about 4.0mil guaranteed. Given that at no point has he been worth that, and will presumably be dropped after 3 years, basically it is 3yr/45mil, avg $15mil/yr. Not bad for a pouter.
TT was worth his money when he was invulnerable but, that run ended.
Shumpert is not Bron-connected, and would be worth the 10-11mil if he was announced as starting 2guard and could relax but Lue is not going to do that. Actually many Cavs fans would not either, but the sportsfan mind (including Lue’s) may not see all the difference made between positive and negative trade values. Peole just like to say, this guy sux, that guy rules.
Bron does “hold the team hostage” in a way but FAs don’t favor Cleveland otherwise, and GMs have disappointed. So let’s get on with it, with the local kid made good!
Thank you!
Don’t forget Tristan Thompson has LeBron’s agent and held out until the season started to get that fat contract! LeBron is responsible for getting Wade, Rose, Korver, Shumpert, Love,and Smith along with keeping Tristan Thompson on this team. That’s why David Griffin said this. He was the one pulling the trigger. Your right free agents don’t want to come here. Like Carmelo didn’t want to until he didn’t have a choice. Then the Knicks didn’t like the offer of Shumpert and Frye.
Love didn’t make the All-Star team last year. They major decisions to make in free agency this year.
Shumpert , J.R. Smith, and Tristan Thompson will be difficult to move. The NBA had to redo the all-star format because the east is so weak, and is discussing a new playoff format (for down the road).
A) Love most definitely made the all star team so no.
B) The new format only affects the game. Rosters are still 12 East and 12 West they are just drafted to 2 teams to make the game more competitive
I just checked the box score from last years all-star game. Love is not on it.
The Cavs tried to trade Love this past offseason, but couldn’t.
How does taking a team to three straight finals hold a franchise hostage? 28 other teams can only dream of that much success. The goal in the NBA is to win, not to have the best looking salary sheet.
Teams build for years just for the chance to make a single finals. Every team in the NBA would accept having a couple years of bad contracts in exchange for an incredible run of success.
The point is he hold the team hostage because it’s hard to attract other players to come to Cleveland and commit past 2018 if they have no idea if LBJ will be there too.
It’s been incredibly difficult to lure top FA to Cleveland w/o LBJ.
That’s not to say that it’s not worth the risk. Obviously, with LBJ you go all in for a chance to win a chip. Will be interesting to see what happens with the Brooklyn pick.
I would love to bring in Cousins if we can work out an extension in advance but that’s probably unlikely without knowing LBJ’s status beyond this season.
I’m wondering how LeBron will react if the Celts beat the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals!
No way will owner let them trade that pick. Sad thing is Coach Lue said their pick is worth more than the Nets pick right now!
David Griffin is talking about LeBron dictating who he wants to play with. He did it in Miami, and here in Cleveland the first time.
LeBron only came back when owner Dan Gilbert agreed to spend whatever it takes to win a championship. Have you seen what Gilbert has been paying in luxury tax? He’s worth $5.7 billion.
Not many owners are as fortunate and can afford to do it. The NBA would like to stop this spending and the superteams.
LeBron has been to seven straight finals, obviously he’s doing something right. If he is saying what players to get, his teams would be stupid not to get them.
If it wasn’t worth being in the luxury tax to win championships Gilbert wouldn’t do it.
I understand why LBJ asked Gilbert that question but Gilbert has always maxed out the salary cap when LBJ was there before. The difference now is that LBJ has shown the ability to draw stars to a market they may not have normally considered. Most may not remember but Gilbert was aggressively trying to trade for Love BEFORE LBJ approached them about returning to Cleveland. However, Love made it clear that IF the Cavs traded for him he was not going to stay in Cleveland once his contract was up. It wasn’t until LBJ coming back and him speaking with Love that he agreed to the trade and to resign afterwards.
Gilbert has always been committed to winning.
Dan Gilbert paid a league leading $54 million in luxury tax last season and lost $40 million. Hwas willing to let Kyrie go because he saved $27 million.
The idea not to pay the luxury tax. If Dan Gilbert wasn’t worth $5.7 billion, I really doubt he’d have done it. The reason Dwayne wade and Derrick Rose had to sign minimum salaries is because of the cap. A lot of teams will be strapped because of the cap limiting free agents this year. Let’s see what Gilbert is willing to pay after this year to LeBron and Isaiah Thomas.
You can’t look at it from a year-to-year profit/losses analaysis. You have to look at the value of the franchise before and after LBJ and the effect that he has on the local economy in general.
I can almost guarantee you that Gilbert would rather have Kyrie than not have him. The difference in what Kyrie would earn vs what IT Crowder and Zizic earn is negligible. About $15 mil vs $19 mil. Kyrie was on a very team friendly contract. Also, I don’t think he was paying any lux tax on Irving’s deal anyway. I think it’s on new contracts. The $4 mil saved is enough to get them under the lux tax limit anyways.
I meant the $4mil difference between Irving and the 3 from Boston would NOT have gotten them under the lux tax AND I think because it was a trade involving equal salary coming/going they didn’t pay any additional lux tax. I think new contracts signed effects the lux tax.
As Pacer GM Kevin Pritchard put it the owner wanted a respectable team on the floor without going over the cap. He said the Pacers would only go over the cap if the situation was right.
Team rosters change yearly. The cap changes yearly. All owners look at the financial status of their team before and after free agency and the draft yearly.
Griffin turned down the Knicks GM job because they wouldn’t give him total control over personnel decisions. He didn’t have it in Cleveland and wanted it. That’s why Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert let him go.
About LeBron and leaving. Like going to Miami and coming back to Cleveland. No one knows what he’s going to do (except Dwayne Wade) until he does it!
The luxury tax is based on teams total guaranteed salary. That’s why they are estimating if the Warriors kept everyone for the next 3 seasons, their luxury tax would be over $100 million. The Cavs have paid the tax since LeBron came back. The $54 million Gilbert paid is the most in NBA history!
Those bad contracts cost the Cavaliers Carmelo Anthony and Paul George because the Knicks and Pacers didn’t want them. The idea is to win championships and make money. Jeff Green has been valuable to the Cavs this year. He’s on the minimum because of them.
Absolutely not. You are 100% wrong. In the NBA you have to match incoming and outgoing contracts with a certain % give or take. So if the Cavs acquire a player that makes $25 mil a year then they have to send out players making roughly the same anyway. So if there was a TRADE then most likely, simply for the money to match, it would’ve had to include one of or some combo of Love, Irving, Thompson, Smith or Shump to be sent to the Knicks or Pacers.
You act as if getting Green on the minimum is a bad thing.
LBJ is hands down the most powerful athlete in professional sports now and maybe in the history of sports.
a) On court one of the greatest to ever play the game, probably top 5 all-time.
b) His ability to automatically reverse the fate of a franchise.
Year prior to drafting LBJ Cavs won 17 games. His first 3 seasons their wins went from 35-45-50 and a run to at minimum ECF semi for the next 5 years
First time he left the Cavs went from being a 61 win team to a 19 win team.
Miami Heat went from being a mediocre team that lost in the 1st rnd in the playoffs in two consecutive years and takes them to the Finals four straight years and wins two titles.
LBJ comes back to Cleveland and takes a 33 win team to a 53-57-51 win team and 3 straight Finals and a championship.
The value of the Cavs franchise went from $375 mil to over $1 billion since he returned. The Heat went from being worth about $360 mil the year before LBJ and was worth just under $1.2 billion when he left.
c) His effect on player movement. He truly was NOT the inventor of “super teams”.
Magic Johnson during his first championship season played with Kareem (24 per game), Jamal Wilkes (21 per game) and Norm Nixon (18 per game). In his 2nd chip season he still had a productive Kareem (22 per game) a declining future HOF in Wilkes (8 per game) but had to youngsters in future HOF James Worthy (18 per game) and Byron Scott (16 per game).
Bird of course had 3 HOF teammates in McHale, Parrish and DJ.
However, LBJ was really the first to orchestrate collusive player movement by joining with Wade and Bosh in Miami and convincing Love (who had previously told the Cavs not to trade for him because he wouldn’t sign with them after the season) to join him in Cleveland. Even this year, LBJ got Rose, Wade and Jeff Greene to all come for the minimum.
d) Empowerment of his team.
He took a then 21 year old Rich Paul and brought him to work on his team under his then agent Leon Rose. He then left to join CAA’s new sports agency but demanded that they bring in and hire Paul and help mentor him to get his agent credentials. Once Paul was an official agent he then left CAA to form Klutch Sports Group and LBJ became his 1st client. Now his roster includes LBJ teammates Tristan Thompson and JR Smith as well as NBA stars Eric Bledsoe, Ben Simmons, John Wall, Nerlens Noel and 12 other current NBA players.
Maverick Carter, his child-hood friend, became a intern at Nike, later a Nike field rep and now co-owns or manages several other business ventures with LBJ as well as manages Johnny Manziel whom he met thru LBJ.
e) Outside business venture. I laugh at people who site LBJ is going to LA because he wants to kick-start his career as a mogul. He already has. Short of owning a franchise (which he says he wants to do once he retires) he’s already doing what Magic and Jordan have done post-retirement while still in the prime of his NBA career.
TV-Exec producer of “Survivor’s Remorse” on the Starz channel. Exec producer of the game show “The Wall” on NBC, a reality show on CNBC called “Cleveland Hustles” and had a very well received role as a cast member of the Amy Shumer film “Trainwreck” that grossed over $140 mil off of a $35 mil budget.
He also owns part of Liverpool FC. He also co-owns LRMR which is a marketing agency with clients such as Chris Paul and others. That company does tens of millions in endorsements every year. When have we ever seen a current athlete making money from endorsements from OTHER athletes????
f) Activism. Have we seen another athlete with the sizable platform that LBJ has ever delve into politics or social activism the way LBJ has and to collaborate with others in a show of unity?
g) Role as an NBA player rep. As First VP of the NBPA he’s been instrumental in gaining more money and indepency for players. Under his tenure the NBA has seen player salaries soar. He’s even influenced the KIND of contracts players sign as the PO option has become almost a staple of almost all of the recent mega deals signed by stars.
He is the most powerful athlete ever and I’m not sure if it’s even close.
I’m a Pacers fan who lives in Cleveland. I totally respect LeBron. What he is doing for the kids in Akron is great. He has been to the finals 7 years in a row. He is the best basketball player in the world. Like they are saying about the Warriors, they can’t afford to keep them together forever. The Celtics are building for the post Warrior era.
The salary cap was implemented to try and produce parity in the league and give the small franchises a chance, The NBA players association (LeBron) would like to see no cap on maximum salaries. Supposedly 4 franchises lost money last season. The owners don’t want to operate this way. If LeBron becomes an owner he’ll understand this. Just like Michael Jordan is finding out in Charlotte. I’m a Pacers fan. The Pacers and Cavs wanted Kyrie. Denver wanted Kevin Love. The trades were never done because of bad contracts. The Cavs wanted to send Shumpert to the Pacers. The Nuggets were going to send Gary Harris. The Pacers decided their best move financially and production wise was to take Oladipo and Sabonis. They knew Harris wanted a max contract and Shumpert is overpaid. The Pacers owner publicly made it clear he wasn’t going to overpay anyone, and he didn’t in free agency last season.
Make that the Pacers and Bulls wanted Kyrie. It was in the news.
Jeff Green isn’t the Cavs problem and he shouldn’t be playing for the minimum.
I looked up Spotrac.com . It lists every NBA team and where they stand in relation to the hard cap, soft cap, and the luxury tax. The Cavs team payroll is $134,000,000, and their estimated luxury tax to be paid is $43,000,000. This is the highest in the league.
Make that 2nd highest. The Warriors team payroll is $1.2 million higher.
You’d better check the box score from the all-star game last year. Love was left off. I’m a Pacer fan first and a Cav fan 2nd. I like Love, but he’s another on the Cavs other teams won’t take because of his salary and his lack of defense.