All those teams harboring hopes of LeBron James opting out of his contract with the Miami Heat "very likely" won't get to use their pitches on him.
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The Sporting News is reporting that a source close to James' situation with the Heat has indicated that James is "very likely" to stay in Miami.
"The source indicated that James remembers all too well the way he was pilloried for leaving Cleveland four years ago, and that he has worked hard to rebuild his public perception," The Sporting News reported. "He feels the team can still win in Miami, and bolting while the team is still of championship caliber will undo the remaking of his image."
The bigger question for LeBron, according to the Sporting News, is how to go about re-committing to the Heat. James, center Chris Bosh and guard Dwyane Wade all can opt out of their contracts this summer, making them free agents.
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If they all opt in, then all three would be the subject of free-agent rumors again next summer, which would be an issue the "Big Three" would like to avoid, TSN reported.
James has the option of opting out of his contract and then signing deal for as many as five years with the Heat. The argument against that scenario is the rest of the Heat players in this year's NBA Finals were being compared to the Cleveland Cavaliers team that James took to the 2007 NBA Finals.
That team didn't have a lot of talent outside of James, and he might not want to commit to the Heat for five years if he doesn't have assurances that the Heat will upgrade their talent to try to get back the title they lost to the San Antonio Spurs this past season.
The Sporting News speculated that James would opt out and re-sign a shorter-term deal with the Heat - three years, perhaps, with a player option after the second. That would preserve James legacy as well as give him time to determine whether he believes the Heat will spend money to go after talent to complement James to get him back to the NBA finals.
The other issue seems to be whether James, Bosh and Wade would opt out and sign deals for lesser money to allow Heat team president Pat Riley to lure more free agents and build a deeper team, the way the Spurs did to defeat the Heat.
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