The Cleveland Cavaliers master plan - today Andrew Bynum, next summer, LeBron James?
Multiple media outlets are reporting that Bynum, who missed the entire season last year with the Philadelphia 76ers after being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, has agreed to a two-year contract.
USA Today is reporting that Bynum is guaranteed $6 million next season and could be worth as much as $12 million if he meets certain incentives. The Cavaliers hold a team option for the second year worth $12.5 million.
Bynum helped the Lakers win world championships in 2009 and 2010, and he averaged career highs of 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds in Los Angeles in 2011 before being involved in a four-team trade that brought Dwight Howard to the Lakers in 2012.
Bynum's career has been plagued by injuries. He has played a full season only once, in 2006-07. Surgeries on both knees forced him to miss his one season with the Sixers.
If Bynum can stay healthy, the Cavaliers would be in a good position as a destination for free agents next summer - most notably James, the former Cavalier and current Miami Heat superstar.
James, who led the Cavaliers to the NBA finals in 2007, spurned the Cavaliers in a poorly crafted ESPN television special called "The Decision" in 2010, in which he announced he was joining the Heat.
James has expressed interest in someday returning to the Cavaliers, who now have young stars in Bynum, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft.
Yahoo! Sports reported on Monday that Bynum and Kyrie would form the "cornerstone" of a recruiting pitch to James in 2014.
Cleveland also signed former Lakers forward Earl Clark and Golden State Warriors guard Jarrett Jack this summer.
Even Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who promised Cleveland fans that the Cavaliers would win an NBA title before James when James departed, is softening on his anti-LeBron stance.
"Looking back now, that probably was not the most brilliant thing I've ever done in my life," Gilbert said last October, according to several media outlets.
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