Like sharks sensing a presence in the water, Rich Paul's cryptic statement that accompanied LeBron James' decision to opt in to his $52.6 million salary for next season led some teams to call the Los Angeles Lakers about the four-time NBA MVP's availability.

LeBron James becoming available has, typically, been a seismic NBA event. Teams famously spent the several years leading up to his 2010 free agency clearing cap space. Pretty much all league business halted for the first 11 days of July in 2014 as teams schlepped across the country first to Cleveland and then,

Brian Windhorst said on ESPN Cleveland that the superstar and the Lakers are "beginning to move apart" and that this is the beginning of the end of his time with the franchise (h/t Lakers Daily ).