http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16600400/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-opts-contract

I mean he's going to be staying in Cleveland, right?

No way do I see this as anything more than getting a max contract. Just wondering if anyone thought differently?

That is exactly what it is. Love how ESPN says breaking news. Everyone knew he was doing this

If he's smart, he'll do another 1 year deal.

The Bron is going to Chicago

the bulls got rid of that fool derek rose

quote:

---

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16600400/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-opts-contract

I mean he's going to be staying in Cleveland, right?

No way do I see this as anything more than getting a max contract. Just wondering if anyone thought differently?

---

Repeatedly signing 2-year deals with a player option after Year 1 allows him to put pressure on the organization to do exactly what he says (like paying Tristan Thompson $20MM/year) and potentially gives him the flexibility to alter his deal if needed for salary cap reasons. He will likely do this every year for the rest of his career.

Lebron will do 1 year deals from here on out.

Or 2 year deals with a player option after 1 year I mean. This is expected.

he's going to do at least one more 1 year deal and then I think he'll be able to get the max max possible, which will be make him the highest paid player in NBA history, breaking Jordan's 33.3mm/year or whatever it was.

quote:

---

quote:

---

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16600400/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-opts-contract

I mean he's going to be staying in Cleveland, right?

No way do I see this as anything more than getting a max contract. Just wondering if anyone thought differently?

---

Repeatedly signing 2-year deals with a player option after Year 1 allows him to put pressure on the organization to do exactly what he says (like paying Tristan Thompson $20MM/year) and potentially gives him the flexibility to alter his deal if needed for salary cap reasons. He will likely do this every year for the rest of his career.

---

Not the reason he's doing it this way at all. The NBA signed a new TV deal that blew the doors off the old one, which caused the per team revenue to skyrocet. The salary cap is based upon a percentage of league revenue, and in order to avoid a situation where all of the additional cap money was spent on one free agency class they created a step up plan where the salary cap would increase over several years. The cap went up 22 million this year, and will have a similar bump next year to 108 million, which is projected to be the peak until after 2020.

Because the max contract limits are based upon a percentage of the salary cap, Lebron would have been foregoing millions of dollars had he signed a longterm deal on his initial contract, last year's contract, or this year's contract. Next year he has the combined powers of the $108 million cap, and the Cavaliers having his Bird rights, which allows him to receive the largest possible annual increases (7.5% vs 4.5%). His first year of his deal next year will be ~35 million, besting the previous record for a single season by Michael Jordan by 2 million.

Lebron doesn't need free agency looming in order to get what he wants, he's trying to get paid every cent that he's worth, and he's going to sign a contract that is in excess of $200 million next off season.

thanks for writing out the long answer with detailed info. That's exactly correct.

And apparently in the negotiations with returning to the Cavs 2 years ago, this was all brought up, and Gilbert signed off on Lebron only doing 1 year deals like this for these reasons.

You're crazy if you don't think an added benefit is getting to pressure the organization into doing exactly what he wants. It might not be the primary reason he's doing it, but it's certainly and added benefit of doing it that way (i.e. see Tyron Lue).

And yes, Dan Gilbert would have sacrificed his good luck charm son if Lebron had demanded it as a condition of returning to Cleveland.

You are indeed correct about the money aspect.

oh I definitely think it is also a power play to have some control over the organization. hph has it nailed on they from a financial side.

quote:

---

You're crazy if you don't think an added benefit is getting to pressure the organization into doing exactly what he wants. It might not be the primary reason he's doing it, but it's certainly and added benefit of doing it that way (i.e. see Tyron Lue).

And yes, Dan Gilbert would have sacrificed his good luck charm son if Lebron had demanded it as a condition of returning to Cleveland.

---

Does it ultimately have that effect? Yeah, but they would have fired Blatt whether Lebron was on a one year deal or not, because that's what Lebron wanted. They would have hired Tyronn Lue, because that's what Lebron wants. The reason for the 2 year, player option deals is financial. Lebron is worried about his legacy and he cannot catch Jordan if he ditches Cleveland again. That's not an option and whenever anyone suggests he might leave Cleveland again my eyes roll.

A story came out just a couple of weeks ago, where the Bulls were going to trade Pippen for T-Mac on draft night, and Jordan said no. Jordan had no added leverage in that situation and they did what he said. Lebron holds that same sway, what he wants will happen.

Again, Lebron will be signing a long term deal next off season, because that's when it is most financially viable to do it. The cap is set to peak at 108 million next year, and then fall to 100 million the following year so in order to maximize his earnings he needs to sign the long term deal at the caps peak.

Lebron wants to be the greatest and he wants to be a billionaire. He'll have a really hard time achieving either one of those by playing the power card with one year contracts.

quote:

---

quote:

---

You're crazy if you don't think an added benefit is getting to pressure the organization into doing exactly what he wants. It might not be the primary reason he's doing it, but it's certainly and added benefit of doing it that way (i.e. see Tyron Lue).

And yes, Dan Gilbert would have sacrificed his good luck charm son if Lebron had demanded it as a condition of returning to Cleveland.

---

Does it ultimately have that effect? Yeah, but they would have fired Blatt whether Lebron was on a one year deal or not, because that's what Lebron wanted. They would have hired Tyronn Lue, because that's what Lebron wants. The reason for the 2 year, player option deals is financial. Lebron is worried about his legacy and he cannot catch Jordan if he ditches Cleveland again. That's not an option and whenever anyone suggests he might leave Cleveland again my eyes roll.

A story came out just a couple of weeks ago, where the Bulls were going to trade Pippen for T-Mac on draft night, and Jordan said no. Jordan had no added leverage in that situation and they did what he said. Lebron holds that same sway, what he wants will happen.

Again, Lebron will be signing a long term deal next off season, because that's when it is most financially viable to do it. The cap is set to peak at 108 million next year, and then fall to 100 million the following year so in order to maximize his earnings he needs to sign the long term deal at the caps peak.

Lebron wants to be the greatest and he wants to be a billionaire. He'll have a really hard time achieving either one of those by playing the power card with one year contracts.

---

I don't disagree with any of that.