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The first big plot point in the third installment of the trilogy of the free agency LeBron James was resolved on Friday. LeBron James has decided to withdraw from the last year of his contract, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com
Agent LeBron James informed the Cavs that he will not exercise his option to $ 35.6 million and will thus become an unrestricted free agent, sources told @clevelanddotcom … History to come
– Joe Vardon (@joevardon) June 29, 2018
In the past, this decision was a mere formality and did not tell us anything about his free agent plans. James decided to make less annual money for just one more season, or to get the option to sign up for more money – either through a long term contract or a two year contract. years with a player option the second year for maximum flexibility. Of course James and all the other players in this situation would retire when given the choice
. Due to various circumstances, the decision to opt for this year was different. James' decision had a significant effect on the continuation of this season, as it has greatly reduced the field. Unless you are a 76ers, Lakers or Cavaliers fan, your team has virtually no hope of acquiring James now.
Sorry, Rockets fans. Nothing is really impossible with Daryl Morey, but their only real hope was that James opts to force an exchange, to Chris Paul. Now, they lack ceiling space to sign James, and the sign-and-trade opportunities are far away.
We will see why in a second, but first, some context.
Why even opt for a viable scenario? Thank you Chris Paul
Last summer, Paul faced a dilemma. He was teaming with James Harden on the Houston Rockets, but the Rockets lacked space to sign it.
This seemed to close the door to a potential union, as an idiot wrote. To create enough ceiling space to sign Paul, Houston was expected to cut his long-term salary by at least $ 25 million in a few days, and no team would take as much of it. money in its open-capitalization space without inflicting a ton of pain. the form of future badets.
But Paul found a unique way to make his trip to Houston. Rather than going through the formality of withdrawal and officially becoming a free agent, Paul opted in to help engineer a craft. All Houston had to do was raise enough salary to match the $ 25 million that Paul left in the last year of his contract.
General Manager Daryl Morey did it in a fun way, mustering an army of unsecured contracts. Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Showzl Harrell and the first round pick of next year. The Clippers, not wanting to lose Paul for nothing, accepted the trade. This is how Paul established a trade with Houston and which allowed the Rockets to maintain the mid-level exception to sign P.J. Tucker.
A year later, Paul is a free agent, but he should sign a long-term maximum contract to stay with Houston. That's how he was able to find a unique way to choose the team he wanted in free will, even if that team did not have enough space to sign it.
LeBron could have done the same thing, but not [19659014] If LeBron wanted his choice from one of the other 29 teams in the NBA, he could have pulled the same move as Paul did. He could have told the Cavaliers of his intentions to go elsewhere and give them his new favorite destination. Cleveland would then have had the choice: call LeBron Bluff and risk losing him for nothing in free agency, or accept a return package for a departing player anyway.
If the Cavaliers had opted for Option 2, they would have negotiated a commercial package with LeBron's favorite team, using James' $ 35.6 million gamer option as the salary they have to equal. Any team could theoretically do it, although some may do it more easily than others. Houston could have done that.
But he retired. So, why does that kill Houston's chances?
Withdrawing effectively limits the field to the following teams: Lakers, Sixers and Cavaliers. The Lakers and the 76ers are the only teams in LeBron's hunt with the cap space to sign it altogether, and the Cavaliers have bird rights. None of the other potential LeBron destinations has enough ceiling space to give LeBron a maximum contract starting at 35% of the salary cap.
This crucially included the Rockets, who would gladly have taken LeBron despite the words of James Harden after the NBA awards ceremony. Houston is well above the salary cap before even making decisions on Paul and Clint Capela. Even negotiating Ryan Anderson without taking a salary does not bring them close enough to sign James downright.
It also includes the Celtics, Spurs, Heat, Clippers, and any other wild LeBron destination.
Scenarios for display and signature are technically possible, but unlikely. Any team that performs a sign-and-trade can not end up with a team salary of more than $ 6 million over the luxury tax because of the NBA rules. This would complicate the task of James' new team, so there is no point waiting for them and trading for James later, when they could trade against James before he retires and maintains that flexibility. .
In the case of the Rockets, a sign-and-trade is functionally impossible because they also have to re-sign Paul and Capela. There is almost no way for them to keep all those players and have a team salary of less than $ 6 million compared to the luxury tax. I say almost because everything is possible with Morey, but one would have to swap as much salary without receiving back that it's functionally impossible.
No matter what team no hat place was to hope that LeBron opted in as a way to develop a trade there. But now that LeBron has retired, they are almost certainly out of the running.
That's why James's decision not to participate was not a mere formality this time around. It's now a three-team race.
This story was published before LeBron's decision to withdraw and was subsequently updated.
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