Shortly after the Grizzlies, Raptors, and Pistons completed a three-way deal that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote a column in which he argued that the trade signaled that the end of the era of big-three super-teams was coming to an end. Today, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com spoke to LeBron James, who is part of a Big Three of his own in Miami, about the idea that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is changing how rosters are constructed. LeBron shared a few interesting quotes, so let's check out the highlights….
On whether the NBA's salary cap allows for LeBron's full value to be reflected in his contract:
"What I do on the floor shows my value. At the end of the day, I don't think my value on the floor can really be compensated for anyways because of the (collective bargaining agreement). If you want the truth. If this was baseball (with no salary cap), it'd be up, I mean way up there."
On the decision he, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh made to sign for less than the maximum salary in Miami:
"I have not had a full max deal yet in my career — that's a story untold. I don't get (the credit) for it. That doesn't matter to me, playing the game is what matters to me. Financially, I'll sacrifice for the team. It shows for some of the top guys, it isn't all about money. That's the genuine side of this, it's about winning. I understand that."
On whether the 'Big Three' model is on its way out:
"I think teams understand that you need three guys to do big things; the big-three thing is pretty cool if you can get it. To keep teams like this together you may have to take even less because of the new CBA. I guess we'll find out."