LeBron can opt out of his Miami Heat contract next summer and most likely will to get the security of a longer deal (five years with the Heat, four with another team).
He will be asked about his plans roughly 3,694,507 times this season, and he plans to dodge the question again. As he did with Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
“I have absolutely no idea,” James recently told ESPN.com. “I would love to spend the rest of my career in Miami with this great team and great organization as we continue to compete for championships. That’s ideal. But we don’t know what may happen from now to the end of the season. That’s the nature of the business. It’s the nature of not knowing what tomorrow brings.I’ve said before I expect LeBron will stay in Miami because he trusts Pat Riley to restructure the team to keep it in contention (recruiting guys to come play with LeBron in Miami isn’t the hardest sell). It’s the kind of trust he didn’t have with the management and ownership in Cleveland.
“I mean, as a kid, I never thought the Bulls would break up. Never. If you’d of told me as a kid that (Michael) Jordan and (Scottie) Pippen wouldn’t play together for the rest of their lives, I’d have looked at you crazy. And Phil Jackson wouldn’t be the coach? I’d have looked at you crazy. But sometimes the nature of the business doesn’t allow things to happen like you would want them to. But we’ll see.”
However, perspectives can change over the course of a year. LeBron may see Miami after this playoff run and think that the Cavaliers or Lakers or wherever may give him a better shot at titles. And with that he could bolt. It’s smart business to keep his options open.
For now, he’s going to dodge the question and focus on a three-peat with Miami, he said.
“I owe it to myself, I owe it my teammates and I owe it to the Miami Heat to stay focused,” he said. “As a leader, I’m not even going to let that side of the business get me unfocused on what I’m trying to do and that’s trying to win another championship.
“I’m going to try to (stop the discussion about free agency), but you always have reporters who are going to always bring it up. They’re going to change the question and make it sound like something else. But it will get to a point, if I continue to hear it, where I will say, ‘Hey guys, I’ve answered the question and out of respect, let’s talk about this after the season.”‘
