RealGM

Am I correct in thinking because LeBron's contract is only a 2 year deal that the Cavs won't have Bird rights to him in the 2016 offseason. If this is correct then in order for LeBron to sign for a max deal in 2016 the Cavs will need the space under the cap to make this happen. This would mean the Cavs need to ensure they don't commit to significant salary prior to the 2016 offseason for the 2016-17 season. With Kyrie already signed to a max deal (paying him ~$19m for 2016-17) and assuming the Cavs trade for Love (giving up Wiggins and Bennett), sign him to a max deal in the 2015 offseason (paying him $20m for 2016-17) and make the QO to Waiters, then they'd have $56m tied up in those three players. Assuming they cut everyone else loose they still have ~$60m in cap holds between those salaries and player slot cap holds. Even if the cap is $80m as a result of the new contract the Cavs wouldn't have enough to sign LeBron to a max deal.

The point is whether LeBron's contract hamstrings the Cavs from building a contender now because of the need to keep the decks clear for the 2016 offseason?

LeBron etc is expecting a big change in the CBA including a 20mil jump in the cap. I'm not sure about the bird right things, but I'm sure this has been taken into consideration.

The lesser form of the Larry Bird exception is the "early Bird" exception. Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "early qualifying veteran free agents", and qualify after playing two seasons with the same team. Players that are traded or claimed off waivers have their Bird rights transferred to their new team. Prior to an arbitrator ruling in June 2012, all players that were waived and changed teams lost their Bird rights.[26][27] Using this exception, a team can re-sign its own free agent for either 175% of his salary the previous season, or the NBA's average salary, whichever is greater. Early Bird contracts must be for at least two seasons, but can last no longer than four seasons. If a team agrees to a trade that would make a player lose his Early Bird Rights, he has the power to veto the trade.

A much-publicized example for this was Devean George, who vetoed his inclusion into a larger trade during the 2007–08 season that would have sent him from the Dallas Mavericks to the New Jersey