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The Lakers are trying to pry Kawhi Leonard from the Spurs in order to attract LeBron James and maybe Paul George.

The Cavaliers are…

Adrian Wojnarowski, Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:

The Cavaliers have been working on several trade and salary-cap clearing possibilities to be aggressive in free agency

Even if they decline Kendrick Perkins‘ team option, waive unguaranteed Okaro White, renounce all their free agents besides LeBron and somehow dump George Hill, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith without taking any salary in return… the Cavs would still have just the mid-level exception to spend.

Cleveland clearing significant cap space to appeal to LeBron is fantasy. Hopefully for their sake, the Cavaliers’ front office has other ideas. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe this report misconstrues their intentions.

Though free agency is a pipe dream, Cleveland can can upgrade it roster via trade. The two Cavs with most trade value are Kevin Love and Collin Sexton. But Cleveland reportedly plans not to trade Love, and LeBron’s camp reportedly likes Sexton.

If LeBron returns to Cleveland, it won’t be because of his supporting cast. It’s far more likely to be a reason he leaves. Again.