The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Brian Windhorst) reports: Purely from a financial perspective, LeBron James would probably be best to pick up his option for the 2010-11 season and then extend that contract this summer to 2013 or 2014 to protect himself from the expected salary cap drop and subsequent reduction in max salary. By setting the start of the extension at 2011, James would be in position to reap the rewards of a favorable new CBA for max contracts because his deal would be automatically revised to meet the new max level. But if the cap collapses he’d also be assured of getting a raise on his $17 million salary in 2010-11 and there’s a chance he could actually be above the max contract level after the cap goes down. He would also be wise to build in a series of termination options to continue to apply pressure to the Cavs to surround him with talent while protecting a massive salary for many years. In his position, he will get whatever he asks for as long as it is allowed under the CBA.
