Los Angeles  - LeBron James may put an end to all of the speculation about his free agency in 2010.

The superstar swingman of the Cleveland Cavaliers told the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Saturday that he would consider signing a contract extension after this season, which would take him off the most anticipated free agent market in years.

"You play out this season, of course; I will consider it," James told the newspaper before the Cavaliers practiced at the Pepsi Center in Denver. "The direction we are headed is everything I expected and more."

Cleveland is 22-4, the second-best record in the NBA behind the defending champion Boston Celtics (25-2). The Cavaliers have won 13 of their last 14 games.

James can opt out of his current contract in 2010, when he would lead a star-studded group of players including Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh onto the open market.

There has been rampant speculation about James' future, and more than half of the NBA's 30 teams have manipulated their payrolls to create enough salary cap room to sign James or another star to a max contract.

Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, no team can offer James more money or years than the Cavaliers, who reached the 2007 NBA Finals and pushed Boston to a seventh game in last year's Eastern Conference semifinals.

An Ohio native, James, who turns 24 on December 30, has said that he wants to play where he can "win championships." That may very well be in Cleveland, which traded for point guard Mo Williams in the offseason and has moved among the league's elite teams.

"I definitely want to keep an open mind, I will look at everything," James told the newspaper. "(The extension) is a good point. I think me and my group have pretty much made good decisions so far and we'll look at the options and go from there." (dpa)