Cavaliers' Level of Interest in LeBron James Revealed

Rumors have been swirling about the Cleveland Cavaliers potentially reuniting with LeBron James this offseason, as he and the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be at odds.

Of course, James' $52.6 million salary for next season would cause major complications in any potential trade. The Cavaliers would have to send significant pieces back to the Lakers in order to make things work, and that is not something they appear interested in doing.

However, Cleveland would have interest in James under one very specific circumstance: a buyout, via Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire.

"The Cavaliers could benefit from adding James, who made the All-NBA Second Team and finished sixth in MVP voting last season. However, Cleveland can’t feasibly trade for James since the future Hall of Famer will make too much money ($52.6 million) next season," Mathur wrote. "Sources said that Cleveland is only interested in James in a buyout situation. And why wouldn’t they be?"

James has already had a couple of stints with the Cavs, spending the first seven years of his career with the franchise between 2003-04 and 2009-10 and then returning to the Cavaliers during the summer of 2014. He went on to lead Cleveland to a championship in 2016.

Now 40 years old, James is no longer the same player he was a decade ago. That much is obvious. That being said, he still averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game on 51.3/37.6/78.2 shooting splits with the Lakers last season.

Whether or not he would fit with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is the question, but on a one-year contract, the Cavs may be willing to take that risk.