LeBron James is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, and leaving them with strip-down-and-start-over decisions to make.

The Dallas Mavericks have gained DeAndre Jordan and set themselves up to have as much as $87 million in 2018 summer cap room a number that would include the expiration of Wesley Matthews' contract.

NBA sources indicate that despite some logical speculation there -- why would a rebuilding Cavs team want to stay on the hook for two more years and $50 mil of Love? Why wouldn't Dallas want to use Matthews' $18 mil salary in a swap to get better now rather than to wait? -- there isn't a match here.

But a source close to the Mavs' situation says Dallas is continuing to be open to a trade-away of Matthews that could be labeled "special.''

Isn't Love, a five-time All-Star, "special'' enough? Not to Dallas, for a simple reason: That $87-million "Plan Powder''-like mindset for next summer (details here) means that the ideal candidate in trade, the "special'' candidate, would either be a young star (tough to get) or a player with just one year left on his deal. How important is the one-year-deal thinking? It's part of the reason it's the length of the contract provided Jordan.

Who out there on the NBA trade market (or not yet on the NBA trade market) fits the one-year requirement, has a salary match that exists within the $18 mil reach of Matthews, and is good enough to qualify as a contributor superior to the Iron Man?

That search is on ... along with a certain comfort level in keeping Matthews in a Dallas uniform, possibly as a starter. (Think Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, DeAndre Jordan, Harrison Barnes and then either Matthews or Dirk Nowitzki as a starting five.)

The Mavs certainly believe in Matthews as a role-model leader, and of benefit to youngsters Dennis Smith Jr. and Luka Doncic in that way. They also believe that his versatility as a wing-type player is something they need more than additional bigs (with Jordan coming in and Dirk Nowitzki coming back, along with Harrison Barnes and Dwight Powell, to occupy most of the front-court minutes.)

It could be argued that Dallas might have a volume of bigs -- but not ones who are good enough. Love, who averaged 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds a game, last year, would up this roster's quality ... but wouldn't mesh with the long-term plan.

So Matthews -- who was on the table in trade talks when the Clippers still possessed Jordan's rights -- stays, for now, and Dallas remains patient with its financial juggling of Nowitzki's deal and maybe the return of shooter Seth Curry. ... And patient in its search for a "special'' way to be rewarded for Matthews' departure from Dallas.