If New York tries to wrangle LeBron James this July and fails, the Knicks can go after any one of a number of other NBA stars expected to be free agents.

If Cleveland fails in keeping LeBron, though? It's just about completely screwed ... in terms of the free agent market, that is.

While Miami, hoping to keep a star free agent of its own, has scheduled cap space in excess of Dwyane Wade's projected salary, Cleveland does not. By trading the expiring contract of Zydrunas Ilgauskas to Washington for Antawn Jamison, the Cavaliers removed any chance for substantial cap space this summer.

If LeBron opts out of his contract and signs directly with another team, such as New York or Miami, the Cavs will have roughly $6 million in cap space. As this is less than the combined value of the mid-level exception and biennial veteran's exception, the Cavs would be treated as a team over the cap space (unless it renounces both exceptions).

What does this mean in practical terms? The Cavs wouldn't be able to replace LeBron with another top flight free agent ... or even a second-tier one. Sign-and-trade acquisitions would also be incredibly difficult, as Cleveland has no substantial contracts expiring in 2010-11, and few non-critical players other teams would want. After James and Jamison, Mo Williams is the next highest paid player on the 2010-11 Cavs, with $26.3 million left on his contract over three seasons. Would any team take that on in order to get something for their own fleeing free agent? And which free agent, exactly, would want to go to a Cleveland without LeBron, Williams, Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal?

If James leaves as a straight up free agent, the Cavs would be looking at a team featuring Williams, Jamison, Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson and Daniel Gibson. That's certainly a playoff contender in the East, but hardly a shoe-in for the top eight (never mind a challenger for the best record in the league and a legit title contender).

Had Cleveland not executed the Ilgauskas-Jamison swap and the Cavs lost James straight up, the team would have more than $20 million in cap space -- plenty to chase one of the other top free agents (like Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, or potential free agent Yao Ming or Dirk Nowitzki).

The word since the deadline has been that New York went all-in on its bet on LeBron by trading so many assets for cap space. But Cleveland did the same thing, much more quietly. By grabbing Jamison, Cleveland set fire to its post-LeBron world, making it ever more imperative the franchise never gets to that point. For the Knicks, it's LeBron or bust. For the Cavs? Keep LeBron or bust.

(There's also the chance for sign-and-trade deals if LeBron chooses to leave Cleveland, but it's not clear New York, New Jersey or Miami would have anything to give Cleveland without making said teams completely barren. Would LeBron still want to play in Jersey if it had to give Devin Harris to the Cavs? New York without Danilo Gallinari? Miami without Michael Beasley?)

Source: Tom Ziller, FanHouse