Cavs Have Their Sites Set on Ray Allen

This article was originally published for CelticsLife.com

After failing to give LeBron James the help he needs to win a championship, his hometown is now in danger of losing the two time MVP for good. Cleveland was heavily favored to keep "King James" during the regular season, in which the Cavaliers held the league's best record. However, since Boston knocked off ESPN's favorite player in the semi-finals, many have changed their minds. All except Cleveland of course. Not only do the Cavs believe they will re-sign James but they're also making an attempt to give him some much needed help. Which would include luring Boston's Ray Allen away from Beantown. David Aldridge reports for NBA.com:

 "...the Cavaliers are not only privately, quietly confident that they've managed, somehow, to stem the tide, and have a good shot of keeping James, but have ideas of fixing the rest of their roster next season with the likes of Ray Allen and Brendan Haywood." 

While Ray Allen would prefer to stay with Boston, he could easily get a much better deal elsewhere. Ray knows this and will test the market. After seeing free-agents across the league getting undeserved max contracts (Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson), it's hard not to think that Ray would find a team willing to overpay him. Earlier today, Ken Berger reported that Ray Allen will test the free-agent waters and field offers:

"Ray Allen will give the Celtics “every chance of re-signing him,” but has been in contact with the top-tier free agents and wants to wait until they choose a team before making a decision".

Other than a long-term deal, winning a second championship would be another reason for Ray to sign elsewhere. If he joined LeBron and another Class-A free agent somewhere, he may have a better shot than if he stayed in Boston.

While he has received interest from all the other major LeBron suitors (Bulls, Heat, Nets, Knicks), the Cavs are an interesting one. They have little to no cap space available so it's hard to imagine how they could afford to pay Ray Allen by himself let alone with Haywood.