The Cleveland Cavaliers have the highest payroll in the NBA at around $127.5 million—roughly $14.2 million past the luxury tax threshold.
That’s apparently not enough for LeBron James, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst (h/t ProBasketballTalk):
Tension between LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ leadership is centered on payroll spending, multiple sources told ESPN.
James and team owner Dan Gilbert have different viewpoints on the issue, and it has been straining the relationship, sources said. The matter has been exacerbated by the team’s struggles on the court; the Cavs lost for the sixth time in eight games, 116-112 to the Sacramento Kings in overtime, on Wednesday night.
When James was considering a return to the Cavs in 2014, he pressed Gilbert on if he’d be willing to spend unconditionally on talent, regardless of the luxury-tax cost, sources said. Over the course of several meetings with James and his representatives, Gilbert agreed, and James subsequently signed with the team.
It kind of odd that this is where we’re at. Like, is there a way for the Cavaliers to actually be spending more money on the roster?
Short of actually turning Kevin Love into Carmelo Anthony—a bad, bad, bad idea—Cleveland can’t just up and spend more on the core. General manager David Griffin can sign a free agent, such as Mario Chalmers, but no one who is going to truly move the team’s needle.
It’s not as if the Cavaliers can spend money on marquee free agents over the offseason, either. They are capped out to the heavens, and any money they spend isn’t going to bring in someone of real consequence.
That leaves the trade market, which is a money issue so much as an asset issue. Could the Cavaliers use a backup point guard? Sure. But who are they dealing? Iman Shumpert? The injured J.R. Smith? Does LeBron want to bid farewell to Tristan Thompson, Kyrie Irving or Love? Because that’s the only way the Cavaliers are making a splash.
Hence the dilemma: Even if the Cavaliers really, truly, entirely wanted to pour more money into the roster, they’re not really in a position to do so.
