LeBron James is opting out of his contact with the Miami Heat. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's leaving the team though. It just means that if he stays, they'll have to work out an entirely new contract. Normally if an athlete does this, it's to get more money, on the assumption that the new contract - which will have to exceed other teams' offers - will be more than the old contract.
But in James's case, it's more likely that he'll stay for less money. It's become apparent that the Heat's Big Three stars aren't enough to reliably win a dynasty of championships, so if he is serious about winning Jordan-numbers of titles, the Heat (or any other team James signs with) will need a good supporting cast around him. And they won't be able to afford that if they pay him market-value in his new contract.
It may seem unthinkable that a modern athlete would ever take less money than they could get, but I could believe it in James's case. Remember, the biggest cheque he cashes is from Nike, not the Heat. If he's going to make a ton of money from endorsements, he might as well take a little less from his team contract.
It may even make more sense from a purely financial standpoint. Consider what happens if he takes the biggest contact he can get: he'll wallow away as the only star on a good-but-not-great team. He won't win any titles, but others - probably Kevin Durant - will win. Thus, LeBron will continue to be a star, but not the star. It'll only get worse when Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan retire, and everyone talks about how they each have five-count-'em-five championship rings. Suddenly James doesn't seem like a once-a-generation star, and the endorsements aren't as lucrative.
On the one hand, it would be nice to see a player take a pay cut for the sake of the team. But on the other, it further stretches the concept of competition in professional sports. Free agency introduced the idea that players come and go quickly, and sometimes allowed winners to be bought. Trade-deadline deals changing the nature of a team midseason push it further. And I've argued that veterans going to an already strong team for a final season or two also cheapens the prize, as did the Heat's stars banding together. But having star players unite on a single team, and then taking less money so that they can have a deep roster of lesser players? That brings a new level of artificiality to it. LeBron, if it means that much to you, just sign with the Spurs.
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