James biggest piece in NBA trade puzzle

The Decision redux: Everyone waits for the man

MIAMI — The rumor mill is in overdrive, with nuggets such as these: Lebron James has looked at schools in Los Angeles, he’s not particularly fond of Houston and he’s hugging restaurant diners in Miami.

Ah, free agency is back. It technically starts 9:01 p.m. PDT Saturday but is already well underway everywhere in the sense that everybody is talking about what might happen. James is once again the biggest domino that will fall; he may opt out of his contract, but that doesn’t mean he’ll leave Cleveland — and he may opt in for nearly $36 million next season, but that doesn’t mean he’s certain to be staying, either.

Boston guard Kyrie Irving has a word for these days: Pre-agency.

“That’s actually a title to describe what’s going on now,” Irving said. “But, yeah, we know that 12 a.m. July 1st (EDT), that’s when it just starts getting nutty.”

James is hardly the only player creating nuttiness.

Paul George has a decision to make; either stay in Oklahoma City or move on, with the Los Angeles Lakers believed to be his dream destination. San Antonio has a decision to make about Kawhi Leonard; it can keep him for the final year of his contract, offer him a new deal or trade him. And what happens in their cases will surely impact what James does, much in the same way the Chris Bosh decision in 2010 helped really pave the way for James to go to Miami.

Thing is, nobody knows what’ll happen. Hence, the intrigue.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have about $61 million in cap space; half the league might not have any. So this summer, with cap space for most teams at a premium, the biggest moves might have to come through trades.

“There has been a lot of discussion with a lot of teams about a lot of players,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “I just feel there’s a restlessness on the part of teams, and also there’s a reluctance to do things. … It’s hard to pull the trigger on that kind of thing.”

Philadelphia isn’t tampering but isn’t being shy: Both coach Brett Brown and newly minted rookie of the year Ben Simmons have come out this offseason and said how much a great veteran will help their team.

“Maybe that is a free agent, a big free agent who we can lean on and learn from,” Simmons said.

He didn’t say “Lebron,” but sure sounds like James.

Houston will look to add James as well in an effort to find the formula that will supplant the Warriors.

The Rockets nearly ousted Golden State in the Western Conference finals, wasting double-digit leads in both Game 6 and Game 7 of that series — all while Chris Paul, who seems likely to stay in Houston but could choose to leave, was sidelined with a bad hamstring.

But Rockets star James Harden, the NBA’S MVP, didn’t sound like he would be clamoring for James to come to Houston.

“I don’t think there is a piece that we need to bring in or take away,” Harden said. “We’re great with what we have.”

James isn’t looking to fail. But until he decides where he can win, everyone waits.