LeBron James reportedly wouldn’t hesitate to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers again should his hand be “forced.” According to a Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com, James doesn’t want to be part of a rebuilding process within a Cavaliers organization that is not building to a championship.
James, who turns 30 today, has no intention of compromising his prime years playing for a sputtering organization. He can opt out of his contract at the end of the season and become a free agent.
Given the massive scrutiny he would endure if he departed Cleveland a second time, if his hand is forced, I’m told he won’t hesitate to make the appropriate business decision if it means bolting.
As Haynes mentioned in his report, James can opt out of the contract following this season. This was mainly worked into James’ contract to take into account an expected increase in max NBA deals with a new television contract set to take hold around the NBA in coming years.
This doesn’t mean that James won’t test the open market instead of automatically re-signing with Cleveland before giving other teams an opportunity to pitch him. This is magnified by the fact that some within the organization, potentially even James himself, aren’t sold on head coach David Blatt as the guy that can lead Cleveland to a championship.
However, James did talk in-depth about how it would be a process to make the Cavaliers an NBA championship contender. He understood full well prior to the start of the season that this was a different situation than the one he inherited with the Miami Heat after departing Cleveland the first time a few years back.
Cleveland is 18-12 on the season and firmly in the Eastern Conference Playoff race head into the new year.