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NBA Rumors: LeBron James Recruiting Mike Miller?

By Gerald Bourguet

Dec 22, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (left) greets teammate small forward Mike Miller (right) during the first half against the Utah Jazz at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (left) greets teammate small forward Mike Miller (right) during the first half against the Utah Jazz at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Now that the King is returning home, he’s wasting no time in assembling his royal court.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, LeBron James is already recruiting former teammate Mike Miller to join him on the Cleveland Cavaliers. With a young nucleus of LeBron, Kyrie Irving, No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters and Anderson Varejao currently assembled, adding Miller on the wing off the bench would add some shooting touch the Cavs will definitely need to be overwhelming favorites in the Eastern Conference.

Last season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Miller averaged 7.1 points per game and played all 82 games while shooting just less than 46 percent from three-point range.

The Cavs have also reportedly been trying to trade for Kevin Love, but they’ll have a hard time tempting the Minnesota Timberwolves to bite on an offer that doesn’t include Wiggins. Cleveland would likely have to give up a package like Wiggins, Dion Waiters and/or Tristan Thompson and draft picks in order to acquire Love, but adding him and Miller would give the Cavaliers a nice bit of perimeter shooting, especially following C.J. Miles‘ departure to the Indiana Pacers.

Cleveland was already reportedly interested in adding Mike Miller, Ray Allen or James Jones in order to make the Cavs as attractive to LeBron as possible. Miller has other suitors, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets and incumbent Grizzlies, but it’s kind of hard to turn down joining LeBron no matter where he goes, especially since the future of Cavs basketball is looking pretty bright at the moment.

Then again, it wasn’t long ago that the Nuggets were getting pretty close to a deal with Miller, per ESPN’s Chris Broussard. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out, especially since Miller was reportedly going to be receiving a deal in the $4.5-$5 million range. The Cavs still need to free up some cap space, so Miller would have to take a discount to once again play with the world’s best player.

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