Ray Allen has spent the first half of this NBA season soaking in the sunshine, playing golf, spending time with his family and enjoying life as a retiree in Miami.
While LeBron James was out rehabbing injuries a couple of weeks ago he chose to do so in the warmth of South Florida.
While he was at it, LeBron went and met with Allen and tried to convince him to give all that up and return to the grind of the NBA, and do so in a cold-weather city. That according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.During James’ Miami jaunt, the four-time MVP met with free agent guard and former Miami Heat teammate Ray Allen in order to try and appeal to the league’s all-time leader in 3-pointers again about joining the Cavs this season, multiple sources told ESPN.com…
Apart from James’ face-to-face meeting with Allen, several other members of the Cavs have kept in contact with the shooting guard this season -- James Jones and Mike Miller, who were also Allen’s teammates in Miami, as well as associate head coach Tyronn Lue, who was an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics when Allen played there.
Allen is expected to decide in the coming weeks whether to return to the NBA for a 19th season or not. He has said recently he is working to stay in shape, but wouldn’t go any farther than that.
If Allen returns he will have plenty of suitors — the Spurs, Clippers and other contenders have made their interest known — but the Cavaliers are considered to be the frontrunners. Allen has a comfort level with former teammates like LeBron, plus if he does come back it’s to chase a ring and going to a team in the East makes that an easier path than choosing a team out West.
Or, he might look at the Cavaliers situation (improving though it is) and decide the sunshine and golf are pretty hard to give up. Either way we will find out next month.