LeBron James Will Become a Free Agent–So Now What?

As many expected, Miami Heat superstar LeBron James has opted to become a free agent and test the waters for a better deal. So what does that actually mean?

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It could mean a few things.

Heat president Pat Riley has said that he is not surprised that James has opted out of the final year of his deal.

“I was informed this morning of his intentions,” Riley said. “We fully expected LeBron to opt-out and exercise his free agent rights, so this does not come as a surprise. As I said at the press conference last week, players have a right to free agency and when they have these opportunities, the right to explore their options.” 

Soâ€"where does he go?

Pretty much any team that thinks it can afford him will be trying to come up with a package for him. However, at the time there are only six teams that do have the cap space available to sign him without having to cut or trade anyone elseâ€"the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers.

He’s not going to want to lose so Utah, Phoenix, and the 76ers will likely be out. Yes, each has a lot of young talent on their respective squads, but there is too much uncertainly as to whether they will be able to gel.

Dallas could be enticing. Cuban is known for bending over backwards for his players and has been trying to sign a max-contract player for the last two seasons. James would be teamed up with another future Hall of Fame player in Dirk Nowitzki, and the Mavericks completed a trade on Wednesday to bring Tyson Chandler back as well as Raymond Felton.

He would undoubtedly become the focal point of the team, but the question will be whether there will be enough talent for the team to contend. As fans saw in Cleveland James can’t do it all himself.

Any player would have to be interested in playing for the legendary Lakers. As bad as they were last year, if James and Kobe Bryant were to pair up the possibilities would be endless. The question in this case would be whether Bryant would welcome another superstar in to his house.

Miami is still in play of course, but the question will be whether the Heat can bring in enough talent to help win championships. The Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are enough to get them there, but they’ve lost two out of the last four. Wade has already said he is opting out and will take less money to help do just that.

But will it be enough?

Plenty of other teams have been rumored to have interest, but all will have to figure out how to create sufficient space to sign him without giving up too much talent in the process. Among the many teams rumored to have interest are the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Clippers.

Soâ€"where does he go? No one knows. The one thing we can probably count on is that there will not be another ‘The Decison’ program on ESPN anytime soon.

[B'/R, WashingtonPost]