Chad Ford spoke to three GMs just after the Cavs’ loss to the Celtics last night. All three thought that Chicago was LeBron’s most likely landing spot.
In the space of five minutes I heard from three NBA GMs via text, e-mail and phone. All three said that based on the information they have, they believe LeBron will leave the Cavs.
More surprisingly, all of them said they believe the destination will be the Chicago Bulls. Two said they believe that John Calipari will be the Bulls’ new head coach.
One GM went a bit further in a phone call a few minutes later. “I think the Bulls are really going to go for it. Look for them to offer the Cavs Luol Deng in a sign-and-trade for LeBron. That will allow them to retain most of their cap space. Then they’ll go after Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh as well.”
The sign-and-trade scenario involving Deng is interesting, but would the Cavs really want to trade LeBron away, even if it brought Deng into the fold? Deng is all right, but he’s overpaid (~$51 million over the next four years), so the Cavs would be better off blowing up the roster and starting from scratch.
Also, unless they can get 2-3 first round draft picks and/or a great young prospect, I don’t see the Cavs wanting to be the team that traded LeBron away.
