LeBron James is set to become a free agent once again this summer.
According to his agent, Rich Paul, James will not exercise his player option for next season, ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported late Tuesday night. Despite hitting the open market for a third straight summer, James said last week that he intends to return to the Cavaliers next season.
“I love it here. I love being here. I love my teammates,” James told cleveland.com at the Cavaliers championship parade last Wednesday. “Obviously my agent will take care of all the logistical things but, I’m happy. I’ve got no plans to go nowhere at this point.”
James, 31, was set to make $24 million next season but with the salary cap expected to skyrocket to $94M in 2016-17 and $110M in 2017-18, he’s in for a big raise. James has signed a pair of one-year deals with a player option since returning to Cleveland in 2014, and it is expected he’ll do the same this summer. If James signs another one-year deal with the Cavaliers his salary will max out at approximately $27.5M next season while giving him the option to work out a more lucrative contract next summer under the increased cap.
The three-time NBA champion led the Cavaliers to their first title this season and earned his third Finals MVP award after averaging 26.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists in the playoffs.
