It won't.Īfter all, if LeBron were to choose Houston, he would be coming to play with a 65-win team that was one win from the NBA Finals, not a trimmed-down roster minus one of the best big men in the league in Capela and a very valuable wing defender and shooter in Ariza. That's the best-case scenario, if everything were to work out. Then the Rockets would have to get Paul to take a massive discount - unlikely, as he is president of the players union and negotiated the current salary structure.Īnd after all that, if their cap somehow were within range of James' asking price having had two key players accept big discounts and giving away a bunch of draft picks to shed salary, they would have to let Clint Capela, Trevor Ariza and Tarik Black walk and have basically no bench. That is how the Warriors managed to sign Andre Iguodala in 2014 and how the Lakers managed to clear enough cap space for two max free agents this offseason. Maybe they would give away Eric Gordon, as well. In theory, the Rockets could get someone to take on the $42 million Ryan Anderson is owed over the next two years, perhaps by attaching a bunch of first-round picks to the deal. Paul has already begun trying to bring LeBron to Houston.Moreover, there's little chance James would want to sign with Houston if Paul, his longtime friend and fellow superstar, were not part of the team. That means that even renouncing every free agent's cap hold - these are used to protect a team's ability to re-sign the player while also keeping them on the team's cap until it's done - would not put the Rockets in position to give LeBron a max contract (about $35.4 million). The NBA salary cap next year is projected at $101 million. Capela could sign his qualifying offer for $4.75 million instead of counting as a $7 million cap hold, but that would be highly unlikely.) (Notes: Minimum-salary cap holds and non-guaranteed contracts were not counted.Here's a quick look at their guaranteed salaries for next year, with information via : That is exactly what Chris Paul did last season, and it would allow Houston to figure out how to work around a loaded salary cap sheet that would be difficult to work around in free agency. James likely must decline free agency - taking a $35.6 million salary for next season - to go to the Rockets as part of a trade. If LeBron is going to consider Houston, you'll likely know it by Friday, June 29, which is his deadline to decide on the player option for the final year of his contract. Yet while they're not the frontrunner, the Houston Rockets are, as currently constructed, the team that gives him the best chance of beating the Warriors, who have knocked James off easily to end two consecutive seasons. Ranking the top 50 players on the market.LeBron James, with his eight consecutive NBA Finals trips in the balance, will decide to either join a new team - the Los Angeles Lakers seem most likely - or stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Golden State Warriors are champions, the draft is over, and another Summer of LeBron has officially begun.
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