The LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers fell just short of a championship this season, losing to the Golden State Warriors in 6 games. This offseason the Cavs will likely try to retain their core of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, but upgrade their supporting cast and bench depth.
LeBron James has leverage over the front office. He opted out of his contract, and while he will almost certainly stay in Cleveland, he has the option to bail should they take the team in a direction that doesn’t sit well with him. He is waiting to see what moves the team makes before re-signing.
In the mean time, LeBron is ‘helping’ the Cavs with their roster moves. AKA the team has to run all of their decisions by him.
One player LeBron would like to have in Cleveland is Mike Dunleavy, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein.
From Stein:
The Cleveland Cavaliers have strong free-agent interest in Chicago Bulls swingman Mike Dunleavy, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com that Cleveland plans to pursue Dunleavy in free agency, which begins after midnight Tuesday, with Cavs star LeBron James foremost among the Dunleavy admirers in the organization.
If LeBron wants Dunleavy, the team will likely do what they can to fulfill his wishes. Dunleavy has said that he would love to be back in Chicago next season, but playing with LeBron James is certainly a tempting offer.
The only downside for Dunleavy is that he would likely have to come off the bench in Cleveland, whereas he’d be able to start in Chicago. Having Dunleavy in Chicago would give the team an excellent shooter from long range(40.7% last season). Dunleavy also has a reputation as a bit of a low-key dirty player, so Matthew Dellavedova wouldn’t be the only player on the team with that rep.
