2018 NBA Free Agency: What LeBron James Chooses for the Lakers, Cavs, Rockets and Sixers



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As noted above, you can virtually wipe Houston off the list now, given their ceiling situation, the only possible way to land James was for him to opt with the Cavs before facilitating a trade at Houston. In this way, his salary would be gone on the books of the Cavs, because remember, you can pass the course to re-sign your own player. From there, the Rockets, who are themselves well above the cap, could have come to an agreement by arranging James' money with a pack of players centered on PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon and a handful of plays spare for the money to work.

It's all by the window now.

In theory, the Rockets could still design a real sign and trade if James were to re-register with Cleveland as a free agent, but it's a much more complicated undertaking that would likely require Houston to give up restricted agents Clint Capela and Trevor Ariva to get below the tax area, an additional requirement for a real sign and free-trade agent – rather than an opt-in and trade – to pass .

If that sounds like a bunch of lawyers, that's it. Going over the rules of the CBA to drive all these deals, it's as if you build the confidence of the Rockefeller family. Just know that James' goal in Houston was to add it to a team that has won 65 games and that has been an NBA Finals win, not to add it to the detriment of two basic pieces that would somewhat cancel the value of getting it in the first place. Now that James has retired, you can almost forget about the Rockets, which, as an aside, should now be seen as a virtual lock to match any offer that Capela gets on the open market while all his attention is shifting to bring back the team from last year as close as possible to be completely intact.

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