ESPN and Yahoo have stories on how the Cleveland Cavaliers believe they have a shot of luring LeBron James back to Ohio after meeting with his agent Rich Paul. The Cavs have plenty to offer LeBron with fellow first overall picks Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins locked up for the future and plenty of space to give LeBron the only thing he’s admitted to coveting in free agency: the first max contract of his illustrious career. Yes, LeBron James has never been the highest paid player on his own team.
A homecoming straight out of a Disney movie and getting paid close to $100 million a year are shiny objects that have seduced social media and the sports talk industry, distracting us from two key facts: LeBron's meeting with Pat Riley to hear the Heat's pitch is scheduled later in the week, and the Heat can offer LeBron $127.7 million over five years while Cleveland can only propose $94.8 million over four years. You leave $30 million on the table to move to Cleveland.
LeBron is going to get a max deal. That’s not up for debate. The only reason why LeBron is flattering Ohio is to lend credibility to the Cavs' young yet promising roster, thereby jacking up the pressure on Miami. That means possibly not resigning Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, because either one of those two aren't coming back to South Beach next year. LeBron will be staying put.
If it's fair to give weight to paper thin sources, it's fair to forecast where Miami's Big Three might be headed via their Instagram accounts.
LeBron can obviously do whatever the hell he wants, but by throwing up pics of him working out, he can avoid 2010's messy narcissistic spectacle.
Dwyane wants to show everyone how locked he is into returning to top form by locking his Instagram account. (Instagram is for following SI swimsmokes, not dude athletes.)
Meanwhile, Chris Bosh is posing with elephants.
You’d have to figure Chris Bosh is the most expendable. Houston can offer Bosh more money and a more critical role while Miami can use the money left by Bosh to sign a proper point guard.
Houston's natural landing spot for Bosh: Can play PF next to Dwight Howard, make $20M-plus and return to home state w/ a title contender.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 7, 2014
Whether Miami follows San Antonio’s lead and brings the band together, or decides to swap Chris Bosh, LeBron is not leaving Miami.
Then again, there is one on-the-record source who sees LeBron going to Cleveland.
.@_Charette_ @mellor_lauren I can see him retunring home to Cleveland
— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) June 25, 2014
Maybe I should reconsider my argument?