LeBron James has until Friday, June 29 to inform the Cleveland Cavaliers whether he'll opt into the final year of his contract, which would pay him $35.6 million next season, or become an unrestricted free agent. If he decides to opt out and explore free agency this summer, we won't have to wait much longer to find out where he'll be playing in the 2018-19 NBA season.
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, LeBron intends to make his decision before the 4th of July holiday. Appearing on The Lowe Post podcast last week (H/T Bleacher Report), Windhorst said, "Everybody will be on holiday on July 4. It will be over by then."
If LeBron does test the free agent waters, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reports that he "might meet or speak with a club official or owner at some point," but he has no intention of hearing elaborate pitch meetings from teams. Of course, there's still the chance that LeBron plays one more year in Cleveland before entering free agency in the summer of 2019, when the likes of Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson could also be free agents.
Whatever the case may be, we should know the answer by next Wednesday.
