July 09--To no one's surprise, LeBron James and Kevin Love are officially headed back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
James, 30, has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $23-million deal with a player option for a second, keeping his options open following next season for a bigger payday with the increase in the NBA salary cap or even another team, according to Cleveland.com.
The salary cap has been set at $70 million for the 2015-16 season and is expected to rise to about $90 million for 2016-16 because of the NBA's new television deal with ESPN and Turner Sports.
Love, 26, has gone a different route, signing a five-year deal worth $113.2 million with the Cavaliers.
"I expressed this to LeBron and he'd been through it a couple of times now -- I can actually go wherever I want and pick the team I want to play for," Love said according to the Associated Press. "But every time I went through the different scenarios I always came out at the same place, and that was to be in Cleveland and try to win championships. I would be able to really help this team win and going forward make a very big impact on this team and on this city, trying to bring a championship or championships."
Love was forced to sit out the NBA Finals because of a shoulder injury that required surgery.
The Cavaliers locked up forward Iman Shumpert with a four-year, $40-million deal and former guard Mo Williams has also agreed to return to Cleveland on a two-year contract worth $4.3 million.
Cleveland is still reportedly working on deals to bring back forward Tristan Thompson and guard Matthew Dellavedova.
