1:59pm: Heat assistant GM and salary cap expert Andy Elisburg will also be at Miami’s meeting with LeBron, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
12:31pm: James and agent Rich Paul will meet with only Riley today, according to Broussard, who corrects his earlier report that Spoelstra, Arison and Wade would take part (Twitter link).
11:51am: Several teams believe Anthony is delaying his decision until he knows what James is going to do, as Ian Begley and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com write. There’s been a strong belief of late that Anthony is likely to choose between the Lakers and Knicks, the ESPN scribes say. The Lakers are waiting on both Anthony and James, but they’re beginning to get impatient, worried that they’ll miss out on Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza, among others, as they hesitate, according to Begley and Shelburne. The Lakers, like the Suns and Cavs, have explored the notion of clearing cap room both Anthony and James, but they haven’t gotten far, according to the ESPN report.
10:38am: There’s still a belief among GMs that James will end up re-signing with the Heat on a one- or two-year max contract, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. That conflicts with Mannix’s report that James is seeking a three-year commitment.
8:47am: Carmelo Anthony dreams of playing with LeBron James on the Knicks, a friend of Anthony’s tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman reported earlier this week that the Knicks were worried that Anthony was hesitating to make a decision while the possibility still exists that he could join James on the Heat or the Lakers, but it appears that ‘Melo’s ideal setting for that scenario would instead be New York. Still, Anthony’s friend says the Knicks star hasn’t made up his mind about returning to New York.
Most NBA executives are confident that Anthony will return to the Knicks, given the inherent financial advantage of re-signing with the team, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Still, money won’t be the only factor in the decision, a person close to Anthony tells Isola. Anthony worked out with Thunder star Kevin Durant in Los Angeles recently, and Durant gave Anthony a strong endorsement of new Knicks coach Derek Fisher, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Knicks president Phil Jackson is attempting to clear cap room to facilitate Anthony’s long shot hopes of teaming with James in New York, as Berman hears from Anthony’s friend. The Knicks have reportedly shopped Amar’e Stoudemire, and perhaps Andrea Bargnani as well, to open up space. Yet there’s a growing belief that Jackson would be open to a sign-and-trade with another team should Anthony decide to play elsewhere, Isola writes.
The friend of Anthony’s who spoke to Berman insists that James is fond of Jackson and would like the chance to play with ‘Melo. Another source tells Berman that the buzz surrounding the possibility that James would sign with the Cavaliers is coming from the Cavs themselves in an effort to enhance their reputation. The Mavs expect another meeting with LeBron’s representatives again this week in Las Vegas, although it isn’t clear whether or not LeBron will attend, a source tells Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
James is meeting today with Heat president Pat Riley, and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears coach Erik Spoelstra, owner Micky Arison and Dwyane Wade will also be in attendance (Twitter link). Miami’s contingent enters the sitdown with “nervous anticipation” and no real sense of how James will react to the club’s offseason moves, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. James is looking for a three-year commitment in his next deal, Mannix adds (Twitter link), contradicting earlier reports that indicated he would look for an opt-out after one season.
Ryan Raroque contributed to this post.
I can’t find the tweet on Google and I can’t get on Twitter at work, but I believe Larry Coon said something recently about New York not even being able to fit LeBron and Melo on max deals even if they can unload Amar’e and Bargnani. Assuming that they could, who would they even be able to add to the roster beyond those two? They’ll have to move picks, Shumpert and THJ to move those albatross contracts and won’t have any cap space left. Melo’s dream is purely that, a dream.
I think they actually could add LeBron if they dumped Stoudemire for no salary in return, depending on where the salary cap is set, but that would be next to impossible to pull off. It would likely involve moving both Stoudemire and at least one or two other players.
–Chuck
I’ll have to look for the tweet later today, but I believe he answered it in one of his late night informal Twitter Q&As last night. Might have been using hyperbole, but I believe he essentially said there’s zero chance they could make room for both Melo and LeBron.
Well just doing the rough math, if you get rid of Amare ($23M) and Bargnani ($11.5M) plus Shumpert ($2.6M) and Hardaway ($1.2M) that leaves only
Calderon ($7M)
Dalembert ($4M)
Ellington ($2.7M)
Larkin ($1.7m)
JR Smith ($6M)
Prigioni ($1.6M)
for a total of $23M (not including cap holds or the 2nd round pick Early). Depending on what Melo re-signs for, they would have room to give another Max contract if the cap is $63M.
So definitely not impossible to do…just hard to find someone to take Amare and Bargnani off your hands for nothing.
Like I said, I’ll have to find the tweet. I trust his cap expertise, but I may have misread or misinterpreted something. I’m not a Knicks fan, but LeBron playing 41 games a year in the Garden would be pretty damn cool.
Someone asked if Knicks had shot at LeBron if they could get rid of Amare, Bargnani, and Shumpert without taking on salary, and he said no.
That would be the one. Thanks John, loved your work on Full House too by the way. You were great with the kids.
yeah but youd have to assume that the knicks are going to be paying for part of amare’s contract and maybe some of Bargnani’s…Stoudemire is injury prone and will be 32 early in the season
It’s not baseball. The Knicks can send a limited amount of cash over in the trade, but that’s about it.
I am a Knicks fan, and I do not want LeBron. He brings way too much drama, hatred and animosity. I feel the best move is to tank 2014, and look forward to next year when we will have a good draft pick, and the ability to sign a max free agent like Love, Marc Gasol or Aldridge who could fit very well in the Triangle offense
If by drama you mean a trip to the NBA finals then yes please. Id love that kind of drama
I’m taking LeBron over all of them. Any day of the week. If somehow Phil can pull this off you take whatever “drama” might come with it. He’s the best player in the world for a reason and I’m sure he’d fit just fine in the triangle.
Would you rather have a starting five of Calderon-Shumpert-Melo-LeBron-Dalembert
OR wait 1 year for a starting lineup of
Calderon-Afflalo-Melo-Pau Gasol-Marc Gasol
I would personally rather have Lineup 2, especially because they would offer more defensively, and you already have a go-to scorer in Melo. This team would thrive in the Triangle and be a top team in the East. Very very hypothetical that Afflalo and both Gasols could be had in next Free Agency though, a risk I would be willing to take
Well, there’s about a zero percent chance of those two playing together in New York. Lebron doesn’t want to sign with the Heat unless they can improve the talent around him. He’s not signing with only one star in New York to deal with the same dearth of other quality players. That’s too bad for New York, since this is the “return to New York” scenario Melo is waiting on. When it doesn’t happen (and it isn’t, Lebron isn’t leaving Miami), LA or Chicago is going to be very happy.