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Rumor has it that LeBron James is going to sign a three-year deal with a player option for a fourth year instead of signing a max five-year deal. This would benefit James in two ways: 1) he’d be able to sign for more money with his next contract (30% of his team’s salary cap as a seven-year veteran instead of 25% of his team’s cap right now) and 2) it would give him greater flexibility if he doesn’t like the direction that the Cavaliers are headed. The downside for James is that it gives him less security, but with all the money he’s already made from endorsements, he’ll never go hungry…Paul Pierce is negotiating an extension with the Celtics. There were rumors floating around that he might be considering playing elsewhere in order to win a ring, especially now that Antoine Walker has one…Now that the Lakers have used their mid-level exception on Vladimir Radmanovic, they have no ability to sign Marcus Banks, and the point guard may return to the Timberwolves if the team doesn’t sign Mike James. James is meeting with Avery Johnson today and may make his final decision tonight…George Karl and Kenyon Martin met in Las Vegas this weekend in an effort to mend their tumultuous relationship…Isiah Thomas plans to start Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis in what Marbury called “a devastating backcourt.” Whether it’s the good kind of “devastating” or the bad kind of “devastating” remains to be seen.

Everyone in Cleveland is breathing a big sigh of relief as LeBron James agreed to sign a max extension to stay with the Cavs for the foreseeable future. James had the fans in Cleveland worried when he didn’t immediately agree to the extension, even after Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade agreed to stay with their respective teams…Mike James is rumored to be taking the weekend to decide his future, but we should have a decision on Monday. He’s deciding between offers from the Rockets, Timberwolves and the Mavericks. All three teams are above the salary cap so the max they can offer is the mid-level exception (~$5.5 M per season) unless one of teams is able to negotiate a sign-and-trade with the Raptors. Houston feels like a natural fit, considering that’s where James’ house is and that’s where he said he wanted to play as soon as the season was over…In non-free agency news, Amare Stoudemire played 30 minutes in a Las Vegas summer league game, scoring 21 points in the process.

After a flurry of signings in the last week, expect things to slow down a little as teams pick over the remaining players, who either don’t have the reputations of the early signees or have taken a tough negotiating stance with their current team. One example is Chris Wilcox, a restricted free agent who wants a deal in the neighborhood of Nene’s 6-year/$60 M contract. Who can blame him? Nene is a career 10/6 guy, while Wilcox averaged better than 14/8 over the last half of the season as a starter in Seattle. The Bulls are one of nine teams that are rumored to be interested, and a lineup of Hinrich, Gordon, Deng/Nocioni, Wilcox and Wallace would be formidable indeed. The Sonics should see if they can wrest Luol Deng from the Bulls in exchange for Wilcox. He’d be a nice compliment to Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis…The Kings offered Bonzi Wells a five year deal worth approximately $36 M, but that’s actually a pay cut from what Wells made last year, and he wants a raise…The Mike James to the Rockets rumor is not a done deal and it appears that Minnsota is making a strong bid for the point guard. I think that James will end up in Houston after it’s all said and done…Marcus Banks hasn’t spoken about his free agent status, and the Timberwolves may be waiting to see what happens with James before dealing with Banks. Though unproven, Banks is one of the better values in the free agent market, and will only command $3 – $5 M a year, due to the oversupply of point guards.