LeBron makes Cavaliers front-runners to re-sign him
CNN's Larry King interviews basketball star LeBron James at his home in Akron, Ohio during a taping of Larry King Live. (June 1, 2010) Credit: CNN
The Cavaliers have an edge. Dwyane Wade has a wish list.
And the Knicks have only 28 more days of anxiety until the NBA's free-agency season officially begins.
Two of the league's top potential free-agent targets Tuesday made news in separate circumstances, as LeBron James said in an interview with CNN's Larry King that the Cavaliers "have an edge" in re-signing him this summer, and Wade settled a dossier of lawsuits in Miami to clear the way for him to start "focusing on my wish list" for free agency and formulating his calling circle to begin recruiting players - James, Amar'e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson - to join him with the Heat.
"Now, over the next week or two, I'm able to now sit down and say, 'OK, let me call this guy, let me reach out to this guy,' " Wade told The Associated Press.
James will end what has been a two-week silence since the Cavaliers were eliminated from the playoffs, when CNN airs an hourlong "Larry King Live" show featuring the NBA's two-time MVP. When King asked James if his "home team" has an edge, James replied: "Absolutely, because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And - and so it does have an edge."
The brief preview released Tuesday by CNN ends there, so it remains to be seen if James also mentioned that the Cavaliers' edge also includes that James would be able to earn the most salary if he signed an extension before July 1. If you count his scheduled $17.1-million salary for next season plus the maximum of six years and $125 million the Cavs are allowed by rule to offer, it is a total of $47 million more than the maximum the Knicks, or any other team, can offer.
The same goes for other top players with opt-outs, such as Stoudemire and Bosh. Though the Phoenix Suns are currently in contract extension talks with Stoudemire, it is believed he is looking for a five-year offer and the Suns won't go beyond a commitment of four.
That would leave the Knicks with Bosh as their only hope to entice James in a package deal.
The Knicks have just enough room, based on the projected 2010-11 salary cap of $56.1 million, to offer two maximum contracts and hope to use the space to put together a dynamic duo, with James as the ultimate prize. But they have to convince him that he could find more success than he did with the Cavaliers, and that it will be worth the $47 million he'd leave on the table.
The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.
