SH Blog: Cavaliers will go after Love once they acquire James, Anthony to re-sign with New York, Parsons signs offer sheet with Mavericks

By now, most of you have heard Chris Sheridan’s report that LeBron James is going back home to Cleveland.

Sheridan is 100 percent confident in his source, and based on the events that took place on Wednesday, there are plenty of reasons for the Miami Heat to believe that it’s time to move on from the Big Three era. Lets take a look at some of things that went down:

The Cavaliers made an indicative trade, freeing up cap space for you know who, from Marc Stein of ESPN:

The Cleveland Cavaliers will trade Jarrett Jack to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday as part of a three-team deal with Boston to create more salary-cap space for the pursuit of LeBron James, according to sources close to the process.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Nets have agreed to take on the contracts of Jack and youngster Sergey Karasev from the Cavaliers in a swap that will also see the Celtics acquire Brooklyn’s Marcus Thornton, Cleveland’s Tyler Zeller and a protected 2016 first-round pick from the Cavaliers.

Cleveland will take back the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman and Edin Bavcic from the Nets to complete the transaction, a league source told ESPNNewYork.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The moves will give the Cavaliers significant financial flexibility by shedding the contracts of Jack, Zeller and Karasev.

Meanwhile, ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard reports that the Cavaliers, in addition to James, are also now trying to strike a deal with free-agent guard Ray Allen and/or forward Mike Miller as a means of enticing James even more about a return to Cleveland.

As you can see from the report, they are already chasing after very particular players – players that James specifically wants to play with. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Allen and Miller were contacted by James last week:

LeBron James reached out to two vet free agents last week about joining him, IF he left Miami, sources tell Yahoo. Mike Miller was one.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2014

Think it was a coincidence that the Cavaliers already knew about this? Don’t bet on it. They are going as far as pursuing James Jones, a player James publicly endorsed during the playoffs this past season, from David Aldridge of NBA.com: 

Sources indicate the Cavs are also in pursuit of free agent James Jones, who can stretch the floor–& just happens to be LeBron favorite.

James officially met with Pat Riley on Wednesday for the last time before making his final move. The only word anyone knows about that meeting is this, from Woj: 

LeBron James left the meeting without committing to a deal with the Heat, league source tells Yahoo Sports. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2014

When James announces his decision is anyone’s guess, but Chris Broussard of ESPN reported that the official word would not come by Wednesday night:

Source: LeBron James will not make/announce his decision tonight — Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) July 9, 2014

UPDATE: James, in fact, stayed silent into Thursday morning.

And then there is this: once James makes his decision, Cleveland will then look to go after Kevin Love. Woj has details:

The Cleveland Cavaliers are pursuing a trade forMinnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love contingent on the signing of LeBron James, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Timberwolves will demand Andrew Wiggins, the Cavs’ No. 1 overall pick from last month’s NBA draft, be a part of any proposed deal, sources told Yahoo Sports.

The immediate trickle-down effect of James’ departure is the departure of another key Heat player:

If James does leave Miami, Chris Bosh’s intention is to also leave the Heat, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Bosh has been speaking with the Houston Rockets, who are prepared to clear enough cap room to offer him a four-year, $88 million contract.

Yes, folks. There is a whole lot of drama ahead of us and it can’t come soon enough.

Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony – considered a consolation prize after James – will continue to sit on his decision until James makes up his mind, according to Ian Begley and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:

A number of rival teams increasingly believe that New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony plans to hold off on announcing any decision about his future until LeBron James reveals where he’ll be playing next season, according to sources close to the process.

Sources told ESPN.com that Anthony, whose decision was widely expected before a resolution to James’ situation when free agency began, has kept the Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and other suitors waiting at least in part to see where James goes and whether there would be any option to join his close friend.

According to Frank Isola of Daily News, however, Anthony’s decision has already been made:

Carmelo Anthony is ready to chase a championship with Phil Jackson in New York.

After agonizing over a decision for the past week, Anthony is expected to announce on Thursday that he is re-signing with the Knicks, the Daily News has learned. Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, claims that “no decision” has been reached, but a friend who was with Anthony on Wednesday in Los Angeles told the Daily News that Anthony “wants to get it done in New York.”

“He will have something for everybody on Thursday,” said the friend who was with Anthony before Anthony’s scheduled workout with Kevin Durant and Kevin Love in Bel Air. “He is really torn because this is the biggest decision of his career. But he wants to get it done in New York. He told me he believes in Phil.

So Anthony will look to stay in New York and hope for the best. That way, he gets to keep the max money that only the Knicks can offer and still ask to be traded somewhere down the line should he feel unhappy with the team. Smart move, really.

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:

• Chandler Parsons has agreed to terms with the Dallas Mavericks, according to Marc Stein of ESPN: “Restricted free agent Chandler Parsons has signed an offer sheet from the Dallas Mavericks for a three-year deal worth in excess of $45 million. Several photos of Parsons signing an offer sheet were posted on a Cyber Dust account controlled by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the team early Thursday, when the NBA’s moratorium on signing free agents ended. The photos, including one of Cuban posing with Parsons, appeared briefly just after midnight Dallas time. The Houston Rockets now have three days to match the offer or lose Parsons. It remains to be seen whether Houston will match the offer while the Rockets are trying to convince Chris Bosh to leave Miami and sign with them.”

• Greivis Vasquez will remain with the Toronto Raptors, according to Woj of Yahoo Sports: “Restricted free-agent guard Greivis Vasquez has agreed to a two-year, $13 million contract to return to the Toronto Raptors, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Vasquez emerged as an excellent complement to starting point guard Kyle Lowry and became a priority for the Raptors to keep this summer. With the Vasquez agreement, Toronto has retained three of its key free agents this summer, including Lowry and Patrick Patterson.”

• Donald Sterling went as far as calling Shelly Sterling a pig in court, from Everett Cook of Los Angeles Times: “When asked at the beginning of her testimony on Wednesday if she was separated from her husband Donald, Shelly Sterling chuckled and said, “Sort of.” It was a day of contradictions for the couple, who went from loving to fiery in a matter of minutes. It culminated at the end of Shelly’s testimony, when she walked over to her husband and Donald snarled at her, “Get away from me, you pig!”… Shelly said on Wednesday that she still loves and cares about her husband. She’s his primary caretaker, the one who schedules appointments, picks up medications and sorts through his pills. Throughout the testimony, she maintained that whatever actions she took with doctors was out of love. “I thought for his own health and for my health he had to be tested, because there’s something wrong,” she testified. “He’s been getting more forgetful.  He’s slurring his words. He’s agitated a lot. He gets mad for no particular reason. He’s just not the same person that he used to be.”

• Further details on what Donald Sterling said in court, from The Associated Press: “Sterling began his testimony by saying he loved his wife, but then denounced her. He said she told him to have psychiatric and neurological exams only because he had turned 80, and she was concerned for his health. “She deceived me. I trusted her,” Sterling said. “I never thought a wife wouldn’t stand for her husband.” Donald Sterling’s lawyers are challenging the authority of Shelly Sterling under the family trust to unilaterally cut a deal for the team with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.”

• Kobe Bryant wants to play with Carmelo Anthony (which no longer appears to be an option), and believes that Pau Gasol would also stay with the Lakers if they acquire the small forward, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “Bryant said he “would love to play” with Anthony, arguing their friendship and chemistry with two U.S. Olympic teams could enable to volume-scoring players to adjust their game. Bryant also believes Anthony’s arrival would lead the Lakers toward keeping Pau Gasol, who has also weighed options with Oklahoma City, Miami, San Antonio, Chicago, New York and Golden State. “It’ll help his decision a lot more,” Bryant said. “It’s tough for Pau. Pau is extremely loyal and it’s a very tough postion to be in to be a free agent never being n this position before. My biggest message to him was to make sure you enjoy the process. Don’t stress yourself out. The ball is in your court and your decision to make.”

• The Washington Wizards are talking to other free agents in case they fail to re-sign Trevor Ariza, from Woj: “Washington Wizards have talked to free agent Luol Deng, but still determined to re-sign Trevor Ariza, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.”

• Mike Woodson will join Doc Rivers’ staff in Los Angeles, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports: “The Clippers have reached agreement to add former Knicks coach Mike Woodson to Doc Rivers’ staff, league source tells @CBSSports.”

• No surprise here: Gregg Popovich is staying with the San Antonio Spurs for the foreseeable future, according to Woj: “Gregg Popovich has agreed to a contract extension, Spurs say in release. I had been told he was eager to coach another 4-5 years.”

James Park is the chief blogger and deputy editor of Sheridan Hoops. Find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.