LeBron James opted out of the last year of his current contract with the Cleveland Cavs on Sunday, officially sending him back into free agency come July 1st.
Here's ESPN's Brian Windhorst with the initial report of LeBron's decision to opt out:
LeBron James has notified the Cavs he will opt out of his contract and become a free agent, sources told ESPN
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 28, 2015
Lebron is expected to sign another single-year sheet with the Cavs so that he can take advantage of a vastly-increased salary cap (due to the league's massive new TV deal) starting in 2016-17.
James is planning to re-sign with the Cavs but will wait and see how the team's free agency plays out over the first weeks of July.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 28, 2015
As Kurt Helin of NBC's Pro Basketball Talk puts it, there's no chance Lebron will be "deserting Cleveland" once again:
He will re-sign with the Cavaliers, another max deal with another opt-out after one year. Then he will opt out again in the summer of 2016 and sign another max deal, this one under the new salary cap that spikes with the influx of money from the new television contract. He’s not taking a discount, and the leverage game is a reminder to Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert that he needs to keep spending to win.
The reality is LeBron is not deserting Cleveland again. He will not even meet with other teams.
Cavs GM David Griffin Griffin told reporters recently that he expects LeBron James and Kevin Love to both opt out of the last year of their contracts, and that he expects to re-sign both players. So, there appears to be no panic whatsoever in the Cavs' front office with everything seemingly moving along in the order they expected it to.
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