LeBron James tells Cavaliers he will opt out to become free agent

LeBron James has informed the Cleveland Cavaliers that he'll opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, reports ESPN's Brian Windhorst. The forward plans to re-sign with the Cavs but will wait to "see how the team's free agency plays out over the first weeks of July" before doing so.

James signed a two-year deal including an opt out after the first year with Cleveland last summer after leaving the Miami Heat. He's going to take advantage of that option now, either to push for a bigger short-term deal or to move on, depending on how the next few weeks play out.

All indications are that James will re-sign with Cleveland after leading the team to the NBA Finals this year, and Chris Broussard of ESPN reports that he won't even visit with other teams. Most likely, he's opting out in order to sign a new short-term deal with a bigger annual salary that still allows him to hit free agency once the salary cap increases significantly from the league's upcoming television deal.

The Cavaliers have a lot of moving pieces this summer, including James, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith, and seem determined to retain most of the current core to make another run. Re-signing LeBron is obviously the top priority, but there seems to be a small chance that the team fails to put together the right set of moves to make that worthwhile for him. It's also possible that the forward is simply giving those indications in order to motivate the team to be aggressive this summer with no intention of considering leaving.