How James Harden, and a trade, could get LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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On paper, the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t appear to have the money to pay LeBron James what he deserves in free agency.
The Cavs aren’t totally out of the running for a homecoming, though. It might just depend on James Harden’s contract — and a Max Strus trade.
If things break just right, Cleveland could get the 41-year old from Akron, Ohio to come home again.
That’d sure be big news in Northeast Ohio.
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How would this work?
The first key is Harden, who declined his player option on his contract.
The Cavs and Harden are going to work toward a new deal, but if they don’t sign it yet, they have a better scope of what could work with LeBron.
“If Harden were to accept a salary of $30 million for next season, the Cavs would be right at the NBA’s projected first apron of $209 million in salary,” The Athletic’s Joe Vardon writes. “They would need to dip roughly $16 million below that to access the non-taxpayer midlevel exception to the salary cap. If Cleveland can trim that much money, it can offer LeBron that contract — starting at a projected $15 million salary — for next season.”
If the Cavs could then pull off a Strus trade, they might have enough.
“To that end, the Cavs are trying to trade forward Max Strus, league sources told The Athletic, so that they could sign LeBron — or perhaps another player — into that midlevel exception,” Vardon writes. “Strus is slated to make $16.6 million next season. If Harden signs for $30 million, and if Cleveland can deal Strus and take back no salary in return, it would be able to give James the midlevel exception.”
James clearly doesn’t need the money, but the Cavs are in a tough spot to offer him pretty much anything unless they first pull these moves off.
“Will that be enough? James is a billionaire and makes more money off the court than he does on it,” Vardon writes. “But after earning $52 million last season, and given his status as the league’s all-time leading scorer and arguably the greatest to ever play, it might feel a little better to him to have an extra zero on his next contract. And it appears that is at least possible in Cleveland.”
Fans in Cleveland will sure be hoping that this maneuvering would get a deal done.
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