Report: LeBron James wants full max salary, term demands unclear

We already knew that LeBron James wanted a salary more commensurate with his value as the best player in basketball, which was one of the reasons he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were said to be meeting over the weekend to discuss financial terms of a potential Big Three continuance.

The degree to which that is true is now more clear, however, and it has the potential to shake up the free agent season on the eve of July 1, when James and the rest of this year's crop are officially free to negotiate with teams.

James wants the full maximum salary.

If that sounds obvious, it's worth remembering that James took an appreciable pay cut to unite with Bosh and Wade in the first place. His desire for a stronger supporting cast also had some believing he would again sign below market value, but that no longer appears to be the case.

Here's Brian Windhorst of ESPN, generally one of the most dialed-in names when it comes to James:

Teams who contact James will be informed that he wants no less than the maximum salary number for next season, sources said. The max number is projected to be $22.2 million. In 2010, James accepted a pay cut when he signed with the Miami Heat, taking less than the maximum salary to help make space for other free agents.
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James' demands for the length of his next deal is in flux. After the Finals, James said flexibility was important to him, hinting that he may not be looking for a full four or five-year contract.

James' max salary will start at an estimated $22.2 million and can have annual raises of up to 7.5 percent.

The most obvious impact here is on the Heat - Wade and Bosh opted out of the high-paying final two years of their deals, reportedly to take a smaller annual hit, but it's unclear if they'll provide enough of a discount to make the math work in South Beach. The Heat have roughly $55 million in usable salary to re-sign the Big Three, Udonis Haslem, and any other pieces before they'd be forced into using smaller salary cap exceptions to add pieces, a strategy that left them too thin for James' liking this year.

With all of that said, some are taking James' desire for the max as a sign he'll stay in Miami. Because the Heat own his Bird rights, as well as the rights to Wade, Bosh and their other free agents, they don't have to worry about fitting the salaries under the cap, if James is willing to forgo a fourth impact player for support that's willing to sign for exception amounts.

Again, here's Windhorst:

These details have led to a growing pessimism among teams that James is seriously considering leaving the Heat

Meanwhile, this could favor interested teams with ample cap space who had originally intended on trying to lure James plus another player with smaller salaries. The Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic, along with the Heat, are the teams who currently have the cap space to offer the full max.

The Heat and Lakers are front-runners then for obvious reasons, but the Mavericks and, surprisingly, the Suns could provide intriguing destinations. The idea of James signing a shorter deal at the maximum and then weighing his options once again in a few years would seem to favor more veteran-heavy teams built to win immediately rather than over a longer window, but any team that adds James is a contender, anyway.

The Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets are all close enough to having the requisite cap space that they could also join the sweepstakes with some additional moves. Of course, the Heat could open things up even more if they expressed a willingness to sign-and-trade James, which would allow teams without cap space for the full max to get involved.

James is not even attending the first round of meetings with teams, leaving that to his agent Rich Paul. He's playing all of this quite close to the chest, and many insiders have speculated that James is legitimately undecided on his future.