LeBron James returning to Cavs: Guidelines for a deal
Any trade for LeBron James would have to send back a lot of matching salary. No team in the league has enough salary-cap space to absorb his $44.5 million salary for next season, but the Cavs are unlikely to have any cap space at all. That means they will need to send back a lot of salary to make things work.
One way to do that is to include restricted free agent Collin Sexton in the deal as a sign-and-trade for the Lakers, gaining them a prolific young guard from the deal. The reason that is difficult is that teams who add a player via sign-and-trade are “hard-capped” at the tax apron, which sits around $155.2 million this season. Right now the Lakers are just under the tax apron while still needing to add quite a few players; if they take part in a sign-and-trade they will need to shed a fair bit of salary in the process.
They also might wish to get out of the luxury tax entirely if they decide next season is a reset year, but the Cavs probably can’t help them attain that goal. Adding a third team with cap space, such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, could make that possible, but it would certainly get more complicated than simply bringing James home.
A LeBron James trade would have to include multiple draft picks to incentivize the Lakers to make the deal, and so that the Cavs aren’t gutting their young core just for a short-term run at the title. James loves to “win now” wherever he is, but the Cavs have a long-term future in mind. James would accelerate their timetable, but he shouldn’t supersede it.