[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by KINGBEEF

Just found out that Cleveland will not do a sign and trade no matter what. They do not want to be known as the team that traded Lebron away. They would rather let him go for a ridiculous price. Bummer!!!

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallasmaveri...-news-for-mavs

If Rick Bucher's sources are correct, the Mavericks are out of the LeBron James race before it even starts.

The ESPN NBA reporter is reporting that the Cavaliers have no intention of being part of a sign-and-trade should James choose to leave Cleveland.

The Mavericks are over the salary cap, so a sign-and-trade deal is their only hope of acquiring King James.

Of course Cleveland is going to say that. They still have hope in resigning him. How much damage would it do to their chances of resigning Lebron if Cleveland started saying they were open to S&T scenarios? Right now they're proud, a bit hopeful, and a bit cocky but once Lebron is on the cusp of leaving to a conference rival I'm guessing they'll be much more inclined to change that posturing stance. They simply have very little if no leverage.

Jus think about it, what are their options here? Either Cleveland wallows in self pity while Lebron goes to a conference rival to start a potential dynasty that Cleveland will have to play at least four times a year OR Cleveland can get some nice young pieces back in return while having at least some kind of say in where he ends up.

They're selling. I'm not buying.