LeBron James deciding to opt out of his contract came as a small bit of a surprise. LeBron had until June 30 to decide whether to opt out of the final two years of his contract with Miami. He was scheduled to make $20 million next season and had two years and about $42.7 million remaining on his deal, according to ESPN. Now that doesn't totally mean that he won't come back to the Heat, that is still very much a possibility. Think about it, the Heat just went to four straight NBA finals, winning the championship in their middle two appearances. Now the other two parts of the Heat big three, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, have yet to tell the team whether or not they will follow in LeBron's footsteps and opt out of their contracts for free agency. That possibility is still on the table, so we will wait and see what happens with those tow guys.
There are plenty of teams out there who could the talent of a guy like LeBron. Rumors have been thrown around that he might be heading back to Cleveland, he could stay put and sign a new deal with the Heat in Miami, you just never know. The options for LeBron are pretty good. One spot we know he probably won't be heading is the New York Knicks, only because the Knicks are going to be over the salary cap in the NBA for the 2014-15 season, so that is almost a given that he won't be heading to New York. I'm still sure that there are going to be a lot of buyers on the market for LeBron, it just depends on what and where will be the best fit for the best player in the game today.
With Carmelo Anthony, its a bit of a different story. Carmelo officially opted out of the final year of his contract with the New York Knicks on Monday and will test free agency this summer. This move may have had a couple of reasons behind it. One had to do with the Salary cap. Right now, the cap is projected to be $63,2000,000 for next season. Even with the Anthony deal already off the books, the Knicks are still about $5.8 million over the cap, with the roster that is currently signed under contract. So its going to make this tough for the Knicks to try and even consider bringing Melo back. Plus throw into the mix the fact that, even with Carmelo back in the fold, there isn't enough cap space for this team to try and bring in free agents and build a team around Carmelo and give him a good supporting cast to be competitive in the East.
As it sits at the moment, according to ESPN, Anthony can sign a maximum contract worth $129 million over five years with the Knicks. He can sign a maximum deal worth $96 million over four years with another team. And Carmelo is looking to sign on with a team that has a chance to be a winning basketball organization. Anthony would consider signing with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets or Dallas Mavericks, sources say (ESPN). Chicago, I believe, might have the same possible salary cap issues the Knicks have, so that might not work out as an option for Melo. Of those three teams, the best one for Melo to go to, if he wants to have a chance to win an NBA title, would be the Houston Rockets. They have plenty of talent on that ball club, the setup would be perfect to have the right supporting cast for a guy with Melo's talent.
So with LeBron and Carmelo both free agents this summer, its going to make a for a more interesting summer for free agency in the NBA!
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