LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh are holding the attention of every team in the NBA right now. Until those three players make their decisions regarding the next four to five years of their careers, everyone is in a holding pattern, both teams and players. Who will be the first to make a move? Anthony and Bosh are hoping it is James to sign the first contract.
According to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, Chris Bosh is not going to make a move until James does. The Houston Rockets have placed a max contract in front of Bosh worth four years and $88 million. That is certainly enticing considering the Miami Heat might not be able to offer that much money with their salary cap constraints. However, Bosh has informed the Rockets that he will not make a decision regarding the contract offer until James decides where he is signing. Bosh reportedly prefers to remain with the Miami Heat and team back up with James even if it means taking a pay cut from what Houston is offering.
Anthony is reportedly taking the same approach to his free agency. The guard has visited several teams last week and many were expecting him to make a decision before the end of the holiday weekend. However, so far Anthony has not declined any offers from teams and is still mulling over what to do. NBA sources believe Anthony is holding out for James' decision in hopes that he might be able to join the Miami Heat as well.
The Heat were rumored to be in the mix for Anthony in free agency. They could make several trades and get players to agree to pay cuts in order to make it happen, but it could certainly happen. However, when Anthony was making his rounds to various teams, he never visited with Miami or talked to Heat president Pat Riley. That left Miami looking out of the running.
James appears to be the center point of all this. ESPN is reporting the forward is set to meet with Riley on Tuesday at the earliest to start discussions regarding his future. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still holding out hope that they stand a chance at bringing the forward back while the Los Angeles Lakers have not ruled themselves out as an option. A decision could come at any moment from these players and once one signs, the rest will too.
