LeBron, not the calendar, will dictate NBA free agency
NBA free agency starts July 1. Only it doesn’t.
For some prominent potential free agents, it may not start at all.
That is the lesson from a year ago, when Chris Paul headed many free-agency wish lists … until he never made it to the final list.
For teams lacking significant salary-cap space this summer, which is the overwhelming majority of the league, including the Miami Heat, Paul’s decision to bypass free agency last summer in favor of his trade to the Houston Rockets should particularly resonate in coming days and weeks.
It is why the LeBron James timetable for some teams may not include either the July 1 start of free-agency negotiations or the July 6 start of the signing period.
Instead of moving into free agency last season, Paul moved in advance of the deadline with a wellconceived (if curiously orchestrated) plan of bypassing his free-agent opt out in order to land with the Rockets and assure the Los Angeles Clippers of something tangible in return.
At a time when opposing teams were banned from contact with potential free agents, the deal still came together that delivered Paul to Houston in exchange for a package that included Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker and enough filler to stuff your typical ballpark hot dog.
Because Paul let it be known to James Harden who let it be known to the Rockets who let it be known to the Clippers that Paul would be targeting Houston in free agency, potentially at the cost of Los Angeles receiving nothing in return.
In a similar situation at the moment stands James, who holds a $35.6 million player option for next season, an option, if exercised, that would allow him to be traded to the team of his choice in advance of free agency.
Yes, it would mean leaving millions on the table at the moment, just as Paul did last summer, but such a trade also would allow James to retain his Bird Rights with an acquiring team. And just as Paul, no matter his playoff injury, will get every last winkwink dollar from the Rockets for his wait, so would the expectation be in the case with James.
Yes, it would require a shotgun wedding for Cleveland with a trade partner, in this case with Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers owner who launched a tampering investigation when the Heat lured James in 2010. But something now, as the Clippers accepted last June, still could be better than nothing later.
James is not alone with such flexibility when it comes to the opportunity to defer free agency in favor location preference. Paul George has a $20.7 million decision for 2018-19, DeAndre Jordan a $24.1 million decision, Carmelo Anthony a $27.9 million choice, all due by the end of the month. In the cases of Jordan and Anthony, their current teams’ preference might be cap relief, anyway. (Kevin Durant also has $26.3 million decision, but he isn’t going anywhere but on to his next contract with the Golden State Warriors).
The irony, as ESPN chronicled last fall, is that on the very night Paul was completing his deal to the Rockets, James was seated at the next table at a West Hollywood restaurant.
Now the question becomes whether he follows that blueprint instead of his previous approach of bringing free agency to a standstill at the start of July.
From the end of the NBA Finals, the league moves on to one of its most intriguing portions of the schedule, one that could have greater overall impact than the June 21 NBA draft and one that has become pre-free agency.
It is a tricky, treacherous domain, but one that last year established the Rockets as a contender for years to come.
In other words: Gentleman, start your tampering.