The Cleveland Cavaliers are one game away from having their season come to a close. LeBron James is trying to do it all by himself, but the injuries to the roster have simply been too much in this playoff run. Despite the potential of coming short of a championship, James' first season back in Cleveland can certainly be chalked up as a success. However, there is the lingering question of will it continue, something James is stressing will happen.
James was the big story of last year's free agency as he left the Miami Heat to return home to Cleveland. However, James could easily be another top headline in this year's free agency stint as he does have the option to opt out of his contract. The forward signed a contract that was for two years with an option for the second year. The idea was that James would opt in on the second year and signed a massive extension when the new NBA tv deals kick in. According to James, that is still the plan.
"Ha, I haven't even thought about that until you just said something," James said, via the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "I'll tackle all of that after the season, but, yeah, I'm happy where I'm at."
James has the chance to opt in on a $21 million option and then will likely sign a max contract after that. The option gives Cleveland the best chance at re-signing other players. Kevin Love has a player option as well while Tristan Thompson is a restricted free agent. Both players are expected to return while Timofey Mozgov is a bigger mystery. The center came to the team after the season-ending injury to Anderson Varejao and certainly proved his worth. The issue is that Varejao just signed an extension while Mozgov has a team option.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, picking up Mozgov's option should be considered a no-brainer, but it does draw into question what the team will do with Varejao considering he is a sizeable hit to the salary cap. Mozgov might not be thrilled with head coach Davis Blatt at the moment considering he played just nine minutes in Game 5. Blatt downplayed the issue.
"It's no disrespect to anyone, certainly not to Timo, who has done a great job for us," said Blatt, via ESPN.com. "That's just the way that we played it tonight, and Timo will be back and he will not lose his way or lose his head just because he didn't play a lot tonight."
The Cavaliers have a lot of contract issues on their hands heading into the offseason as several players have options in their contracts. Salary cap space will be tight which means not everyone is guaranteed a return.
