Adrian Wojnarowski wrote on his Twitter feed that Cavs officials feel that the idea of a Bosh sign-and-trade to Cleveland is dead.
Cavs officials are confident of two things now, multiple sources say: Chris Bosh won’t play for them next season, but LeBron James will.
Bosh has long made it clear that he doesn’t want to play in Cleveland, and LeBron knew it was a longshot to sell him on it.
Cavs understand there are still looming threats to pry LeBron, but getting Bosh isn’t make or break on keeping LBJ.
Ric Bucher chimed in with this info:
Can we agree on this? Bosh/Wade are now clearly a package deal, be it in Chi or Mia. And I’ve outlined the challenge of getting both to Chi.
Not sure where the idea Tor won’t S&T w/Mia came from, but it’s not true. Calderon/Bosh for Chalmers, 2 future 1sts + trade exception: done.
More and more, it’s looking like Wade and Bosh both get the max deal (~$130 million) to play in Miami — the Heat and Raptors would have to work out a S&T — and LeBron is staying put in Cleveland.
What are your options if you’re LeBron and you want to stay in Cleveland? Carlos Boozer is probably out due to his relationship with the Cavs. David Lee? Yeah, maybe the Knicks would bite on a Hickson/Varejao deal in a sign-and-trade.
Not to second-guess the self-proclaimed King, but if you’re going to stay in Cleveland despite the fact that it’s an inferior option, why not say that from the start and actively recruit to get some additional help? That way players might angle to play with you instead of sitting on their hands trying to figure out what the hell you’re going to do.
As for the Wade/Bosh combo, they can also go to the Bulls, but someone would need to sacrifice the sixth year of a max contract, as Bucher outlined above. They’d definitely be in a better situation, title-wise, with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah on their rookie contracts, though the Bulls have never paid the luxury tax, so that’s a concern.
