{"id":606837,"date":"2026-02-16T20:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/606837\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T20:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:07:13","slug":"are-the-cavs-a-real-threat-to-poach-lebron-james-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/606837\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Cavs a real threat to poach LeBron James this offseason?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At All-Star Weekend, LeBron James refused to answer questions<\/a> about his basketball future. That hasn\u2019t stopped the rest of the NBA from speculating about what\u2019s next for King James, though.<\/p>\n

Will he retire after this season? Will he re-sign with the Lakers? Or will he head back home to Cleveland and spent one last year with the Cavaliers?<\/p>\n

On Friday, ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon said there\u2019s \u201crampant speculation\u201d around the league about the last option.<\/p>\n

The narratives will basically write themselves if LeBron decides to return to Cleveland, but the NBA salary cap won\u2019t make that easy for the Cavs to pull off.<\/p>\n

Can the Cavs duck the second apron?<\/p>\n

Although the Cavs shed some long-term salary at this year\u2019s trade deadline, they still have the league\u2019s highest payroll this year and are the only team above<\/a> the $207.8 million second apron. They\u2019re already projected to be right in that neighborhood next year<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

If the Cavs are above the second apron in 2026-27, they couldn\u2019t offer LeBron more than a veteran-minimum contract in free agency. He\u2019d take home $3.9 million<\/a> since he has 10-plus years of NBA experience, although he\u2019d count for less than $2.5 million on the Cavs\u2019 books.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the dream scenario from the Cavs\u2019 perspective. If LeBron is willing to take a minimum contract, he can go wherever he wants this summer, including a team that\u2019s over the second apron. But if he wants more than that, the Cavs will need to make other moves first.<\/p>\n

To gain access to the $6.1 million taxpayer mid-level exception, the Cavs would have to get far enough below the second apron that they could stay below it through June 30, 2027. Dumping Max Strus ($16.7 million) or Dennis Schr\u00f6der ($14.8 million) this offseason would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.<\/p>\n

After the trade deadline, Cavs general manager Koby Altman told reporters<\/a> that the front office knew they would be in the second apron this season but had \u201cdifferent strategies\u201d for getting out of it if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing into the deadline, we were in the wilderness in terms of how do you see getting out of that second apron?\u201d Altman said. \u201cWe got closer after the De\u2019Andre Hunter trade, and then obviously moving Lonzo into [cap] space gets you even closer. So you can see it now. It\u2019s in clear sight. And I think in the summer, if we want to pull that lever, we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first apron is a different story, though.<\/p>\n

How much will LeBron want?<\/p>\n

If LeBron wanted more than the $6.1 million taxpayer MLE, the Cavs would have even more work to do.<\/p>\n

Using the $15.1 million non-taxpayer MLE\u2014or even a portion of it\u2014on James would hard-cap them at the first apron. They\u2019re currently projected to be nearly $15 million above that line in 2026-27, and that\u2019s not counting however much they\u2019d be paying James.<\/p>\n

Getting under the second apron should be manageable for the Cavs, but the first apron would be a stretch unless they shake up their new core again. Would they be willing to send Jarrett Allen back as part of a sign-and-trade for James? If so, that would hard-cap them at the first apron as well.<\/p>\n

The threat level of the Cavs as a LeBron landing spot this offseason can\u2019t be overstated given his history with the team. The realistic chances of him landing there depend on what he\u2019s willing to settle on financially.<\/p>\n

The Cavs have already sent signals to LeBron that they\u2019d be open to a reunion, though. ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin recently reported<\/a> that they \u201cwould gladly welcome James back this summer if he wanted to return to Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n

At All-Star Weekend, Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell also made it clear that he\u2019d be down to join forces with LeBron.<\/p>\n

Even at the age of 41, James is still averaging 22 points, 7.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. He\u2019s no longer at the peak of his powers, but he\u2019s still a legitimate difference-maker. He\u2019s the type of player that teams move mountains for whenever he wants to sign with them.<\/p>\n

If the Cavaliers could assemble a Big Four of LeBron, Mitchell, James Harden and Evan Mobley next year, that\u2019s the type of all-in shot worth taking, especially if they\u2019re worried about their chances of re-signing Mitchell. The appeal of one final return to Cleveland to join a ready-made title contender could be hard for LeBron to turn down, especially as he questions the Lakers\u2019 own title candidacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a question of how much he\u2019s willing to sacrifice financially. Is the $6.1 million taxpayer mid-level exception enough? If not, the Cavs legitimately will have to move mountains to figure out a way to fit him in financially.<\/p>\n

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com<\/a>, PBPStats<\/a>, Cleaning the Glass<\/a> or Basketball Reference<\/a>. All salary information via Spotrac<\/a> and salary-cap information via RealGM<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At All-Star Weekend, LeBron James refused to answer questions about his basketball future. That hasn\u2019t stopped the rest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,828,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-606837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-lakers-analysis","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116082117595085374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}