Osupa 10 November 2009 Sports No Comment

By Mary Schmitt Boyer, The Plain Dealer

November 10, 2009, 1:14AM

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — LeBron James will be asked about his potential free agency hundreds of times between now and next summer. By and large, his answers have remained consistently vague. But every once in a while, he throws in a new wrinkle, like he did Friday night in New York.

After the Cavs beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, he was asked — again — about next year. He admitted he visualized playing with a lot of different players and contending for an NBA title. Then he said, “At the end of the day, a max deal or anything like that doesn’t really matter to me. It is all about winning for me. So I put myself in a position when that day comes next summer, I want to win. If I feel like the team is capable of winning, then I will make my decision on that.”

At first blush, it doesn’t sound like anything he hasn’t said before. But the notion of not needing to sign a max contract opens up a whole new can of worms — a can of worms national media outlets will be poring through in an effort to examine which high-profile teams might bite.

In the debate over where James will end up, one of the reasons often put forth for him staying put is that, because of the rules in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Cavs can offer him a longer contract than any other team (six years vs. five) and, thus, more money. If he’s taking that out of the equation, many more scenarios come into play — especially if other superstars feel the same way.

Before the salary cap dropped this year, the prevailing conspiracy theory had the New York Knicks drastically cutting salaries to get far enough under the salary cap to sign two star free agents to max contracts next summer — say James and Chris Bosh, or James and Dwyane Wade.

Given the current economics in the league, it looked as if that might not be possible. But if James and an Olympic teammate or two would agree to take less money than they deserve to play elsewhere for a chance at a title, well, the players association likely wouldn’t be too crazy about it but no team would be out of the running. Including Cleveland — if the Cavs could make enough moves to get under the cap.

James, speaking with reporters at the Cavaliers’ training facility on Monday, elaborated on his comments but essentially just repeated himself.

“Let’s get this clear,” he said. “I said the max contract doesn’t mean more than winning. That’s what I said. I didn’t say that I don’t need a max contract or that I’m not going to get a max contract. All I’m saying is winning is more important to me than money, at the end of the day. And it is. All I care about is winning. Money and all the max contracts will take care of itself when you do win.”

Daniels in: The Cavaliers worked out Columbus native and former Bowling Green star Antonio Daniels over the weekend but aren’t planning on signing him at this point. Daniels, a 12-year veteran, played for New Orleans last season