James now expected to talk with family and make his choice before weekend.
Miami Heat star LeBron James has yet to make a decision on his future despite a meeting with team president Pat Riley on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old met with officials from the organisation for over an hour in Las Vegas but it is understood that while he has now finished with meeting with teams, he will now discuss the situation with his family and make his choice prior to the weekend.
James is expected to be in Brazil this weekend to watch the World Cup final, as a result it is likely that he will want to make his decision before flying out as his choice has implications for other players and teams.
Nevertheless, there were strong rumours on Wednesday that the Cleveland Cavaliers had emerged as the favourites to bring him back after they made moves to create cap space to seemingly make a genuine run.
The Cavs were also linked with specific players that James is said to want with him next season including the likes of Ray Allen and Mike Miller which effectively gives the impression that they feel they have a legitimate chance of convincing him to leave Miami.
Coupled with the fact that they already possess one of the most talented point guard’s in the league in Kyrie Irving and recent No.1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins, it is clear that Cleveland offer James a long-term project capable of winning in years to come.
Elsewhere, Chris Bosh is expected to sign with the Houston Rockets if James does decide to leave having secured a back-up offer of four years and $88m from the Western Conference outfit.
However, things became a little more complicated for the Rockets on Wednesday after Chandler Parsons signed a three-year offer from the Dallas Mavericks for more than $45m.
Houston have three days to match the offer but it would have implications in signing Bosh, while they still have to trade Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin in order to create the requisite cap space to sign them both.
As a result, it is unlikely that much will change in the next few days until James makes his decision, but he has undoubtedly created a nervous tension within the Miami camp given that he failed to commit following on from the meeting with Riley.
Despite signing Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger earlier this week in a bid to show the Big Three that they are capable of strengthening and competing next season, Riley has now produced his pitch and will be forced to nervously await James’ call.
Should the two-time NBA champion decide to leave, it will have a significant effect on the rest of the roster with only four players expected to be under guaranteed contract for next season on their roster.
If Bosh follows James out of the exit door, Dwyane Wade is still expected to re-sign with the Heat after opting out of his contract a fortnight ago, but it remains to be seen what Riley would be able to do in order to strengthen sufficiently to remain a force in the NBA.
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