LeBron James has every reason to grant the Cavaliers their wish next summer

The barrier to LeBron James returning home to Cleveland for one last ride next summer is financial -- unless The King is willing to ignore the money and sign on a minimum contract.

The rules of the NBA are clear: if you are a team operating above the second tax apron, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are, you may only sign players in free agency to minimum contracts. Unless they pay to dump a player on another team with no salary coming back, the Cavaliers are on track to exceed the second apron again next season.

That is the primary issue with the dreams of LeBron James returning home to the Cleveland Cavaliers. There are plenty of factors that make sense from a narrative standpoint: the story writes itself. The greatest player in franchise history and an Akron native will be a free agent next summer. His current team, the Los Angeles Lakers, no longer want to prioritize him and seem to be more interested in discussing his retirement than extending his stay in Los Angeles.

At the same time, the Cavaliers are really good, and should be the next season as well. They won 64 games last year and are the betting favorites to be the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference again this year. If LeBron wants to compete for another title, Cleveland is as good a place as any.

Finally, there is the storybook nature to LeBron finishing his last year or two in the NBA with his first team. If this is really the end for the greatest player in the history of the NBA, it is right that it should happen in Cleveland.

Yet would a player who has always prioritized getting a maximum salary be open to signing on a minimum contract? That seems like an impossible barrier to cross -- unless, of course, LeBron James is prepared to acknowledge something different is happening at this point in his career.

And it's not like LeBron is hurting for money.

LeBron James has made more money than anyone

LeBron James has a myriad of income streams coming to him from endorsements, from his production company, his investments, and so on. Just from a basketball standpoint, however, he has still made more money than any player in the history of the NBA, just ahead of his longtime foil Wardell Stephen Curry II:

If LeBron wants to sign another maximum contract next summer, and it's possible he will still deserve it as he continues to hold back Father Time, he may be limited to teams without a shot at a title: the Washington Wizards, the Chicago Bulls.

If he wants to go after one more ring, a paycut may be in order. And if he decides that money is no longer the top priority, then why does it matter if he takes $4 million on a minimum or $14 million on a Mid-Level Exception? He has made significantly more money than anyone else in the history of the NBA, and while he will one day soon lose his spot on the list as contract numbers skyrocket, it's clear that a difference of $10 or $20 million is not meaningful to the generational wealth he has accumulated.

If LeBron James wants to be on the Cleveland Cavaliers, he will have to sign a minimum contract. And no player in the history of the NBA has been better positioned to do so than LeBron Raymone James Sr.

The Cavs might just have to clear two spots so they can trade for Bronny, too.