CLEVELAND As Cavaliers star LeBron James ponders his future in the coming weeks, family priorities and his desire to remain in “championship mode” seem incongruous.
His son LeBron Jr. will celebrate his 14th birthday in October, and son Bryce turns 11 on Thursday. The last time James made a decision of this magnitude, wife Savannah hadn’t given birth to their daughter, Zhuri, who will be 4 in October.
It’s unclear how Savannah James feels about a possible move, but she may have been the driving force in the family’s return home in 2014.
The only certainty seems to be James’ desire to watch his children compete, which would mean a new destination would have to garner her approval.
Yet when it comes to the Cavs’ chances of retaining James if he opts out of his contract by June 29 and becomes a free agent on July 1, it is clear the team needs a significant talent upgrade to compete with the Golden State Warriors, who defeated them Friday night in the NBA Finals for the third time in the past four years.
James doesn’t just want better players, he wants students of the game, basketball minds with the same on-court anticipation he possesses. But the Cavs had the highest payroll in the league in 2017-18 and owner Dan Gilbert is in repeater tax purgatory for years of exceeding the salary cap.
The Cavs have several big salaries on the books for next season — Kevin Love ($24.1 million), George Hill ($19 million), Tristan Thompson ($17.4 million), J.R. Smith ($14.7 million) and Jordan Clarkson ($12.5 million), according to basketball-reference.com. Kyle Korver, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic are also under contract, and Rodney Hood will be a restricted free agent. The eighth overall pick in the June 21 draft is on the way, and could be the Cavs’ best trade chip.
Reading between the lines of James’ comments Friday night in the wake of elimination was difficult as he said, “I have no idea at this point” about what his future holds. But it was clear that after an MVP-caliber season at age 33, he wants to add to his collection of three rings.
“I still have so much to give to the game. When you have a goal and you’re able to accomplish that goal, for me personally, it made me even more hungry to continue to try to win championships,” he said. “I still want to be in championship mode. I think I’ve shown this year why I will still continue to be in championship mode.”
James said he left the Heat after capturing two titles in four years in Miami because of “unfinished business” in Cleveland. He wouldn’t say if ending the city’s 52-year championship drought in 2016 took care of that.
“That’s a trick question … and I’m not falling for that,” he said.
James did discuss the difficulties of starting a team from scratch, although he had experience with that this season with the post-trade deadline makeover.
“It’s definitely not the most comfortable thing to start a team from scratch, because the most important is health, because you need to build chemistry so fast and camaraderie so fast on the floor,” James said. “If you have multiple injuries … when you’re starting fresh, it’s too hard. I think with this season, that’s what you kind of saw.”
He said injuries were not an issue during his tenure with the Heat. When James came home in 2014-15, such problems didn’t strike until the playoffs when Love suffered a separated shoulder in the first round against the Boston Celtics and Irving fractured his kneecap in overtime of Game 1 of the Finals.
“That’s just huge,” he said of Love’s and Irving’s injuries. “Being a part of the start-fresh mode is something that you definitely don’t want to be a part of. It has its pros and it definitely has its cons.”
But when asked if Friday was his last game in a Cavaliers uniform, James first brought up family.
“The one thing that I’ve always done is considered, obviously, my family,” James said. “Understanding especially where my boys are … They were a lot younger the last time I made a decision like this four years ago. … My family is a huge part of whatever I’ll decide to do in my career.”
He said when the time comes to make a decision, family and those he’s been with “for the last 20 years,” like Maverick Carter, Randy Mims and agent Rich Paul, “will have a say-so.”
“Then it ultimately will come down to me,” James said, “so we’ll see what happens.”