For the first time in nearly a decade, LeBron James is a free agent.
And to nobody’s surprise, the 22-time All-Star and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is capturing headlines, especially as it pertains to the Miami Heat.
In July of 2010, James made The Decision, a highly publicized free agency special, where he ultimately decided to leave Cleveland for the first time in his career and join the Heat. Now, in an entirely separate saga, Miami appears to be one of the teams making a big push to land James, and they could have the leg up.
“I had somebody tell me today that one of the other teams believes that Miami’s in the lead,” The Athletic’s Sam Amick said earlier this week on a KNBR Radio appearance. “And I don’t know where they’re getting intel, and that’s always the tricky part.”
While the head of Klutch Sports Agency, Rich Paul, made a whiteboard detailing all the possible core fits for James (Heat were mentioned), Paul also revealed that a decision isn’t expected to be made any time soon.
At the end of the day, James and Klutch keep their cards very close to their chest. We can’t speak about the conversations being had behind closed doors, but teams aren’t having meetings with James. They aren’t even making pitches to him — they’re making pitches to Rich Paul to relay to the four-time champion.
This is James’ last opportunity to capture everyone’s full attention for where he’ll play next. And he’s milking it like a cow.
The Heat’s case is quite compelling. They can currently offer him the most money (~$7 million) of any of the listed suitors, who are mostly relegated to the veteran minimum; they already have an established defense — led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo — to cover up for James’ miscues; he would immediately be the team’s most gifted playmaker; Miami has a lot of golf!
Teaming up with Erik Spoelstra, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo isn’t a bad idea, especially in a good-not-great Eastern Conference. But the ball will be in James’ court at the end of the day.
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Clickbait.
Yes, that’s all it is. But, we are being held hostage again. I wish we didn’t become paralyzed in these situations. It ended poorly for us two times already. Why can’t we pick up one player now? I may not be in the majority, but I d rather have DeRozan than LeBron. Irregardless, we need another good player because if we go empty handed from here into the season, we will be better, but it will still be more of a wait till next year season.