Hello Steemit friends!
In today's post I will go through my opinions on what will LeBron James do in the upcoming NBA offseason, coming up this summer.
Even though he is 33 years old and in his FIFTEENTH season, he is not showing signs of slowing down. He is, once again, at the very top of the league in minutes and is averaging 27.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists with amazing 54.5% of the field and very good 36.9 from three.
Expectations are that The King will activate his player option and become an unrestricted free agent. LeBron James could basically go to any team and make them an instant playoff team. He has been linked with a lot of teams already. His return to the Heat, Knicks, Warriors, even that he might retire for a year.
The most interesting one for me are the Spurs. In my opinion that would be the best fit for him if his only goal is "chasing the ghost form Chicago"(catching Michel Jordan), like he said on one occasion.
However, most reports have indicated he will choose one of the following:
Staying in The Land
My opinion on this one is that this is the least likely scenario. Only way I see him staying in "The Land" is if they win the championship this season.
This season has indeed been a roller coaster ride for LBJ and the Cavs. A rough start, but then we saw a really impressive month and a half. That was before Isaiah Thomas came back and with Jose Calderon as their starting point guard. Things were looking promising until January when everything fell apart. We have already seen Cavs struggle in Januaries in past seasons, but this was on another level.
Even since the trades went through, the Cavs are not looking dominating at all. With Kyrie being in Boston and Isaiah and Crowder being utter disappointments, LeBron, besides Kevin Love, has to do all the heavy lifting for the Cavs, even in the regular season.
Another HUGE issue is his relationship with the Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. Allegedly, LeBron is pissed because he let Kyrie Irving go, and that he failed to trade for Paul George and Eric Bledsoe last summer.
Dan Gilbert also decided not to trade the Brooklyn pick they own at the trade deadline, because he wants to have some kind of backup plan for the franchise if LeBron says goodbye. He wanted LeBron to commit to the next 3 to 5 years and LeBron refused to do that. LeBron didn't like that much as well.
Finally, Cavs are paying the most luxury tax in the league, since LeBron returned, so there is next to no room for improving this team via free agency.
Even tho we will probably see better Cavs in the playoffs, I'm not so sure they will even go pass the Raptors that are playing exceptionally well this year. Even if they do, 1 win is the ceiling for the Cavs vs. Rockets or the Warriors in the finals. To conclude, the chances are that this May or June will be the last we will see from The King in The Land.
Trust the process???
Philadelphia is very interesting destination for LeBron. Having in mind that 76ers are a playoff team this season with two young stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, LeBron might be interested to be the final piece to complete the process. At least the billboards say so.
In all seriousness, this actually might be a good move for The King. Philla are not a joke anymore and have some legit good players. Joel Embiid proved he is an absolute beast along with Simmons, so I don't need to spill much words on these two. Besides them, they have some very good young players such as Dario ล ariฤ who is quietly having a great season and is not given enough credit, Robert Covington is a nice 3&D player and we still don't know what is going on with Markelle Fultz.
If you put LeBron on this team, add some veteran shooters around and you have an instant contender. He would stay in the much weaker Eastern conference and probably come out of the East every year again. Furthermore, in the next few years as the young core progresses, they could become a legitimate threat to the Warriors or whoever is coming out of the West sooner rather then later.
Launching the Rocket
There is not much to say about this one as it is pretty obvious. Combine LeBron with CP3 and most likely this season's MVP James Harden on this Rockets squad who are leading the league at the moment. With their starting 5, healthy Houston lost only one out of 36 games this season. One game! And that game was down to the wire against the Pelicans (the game Boogie got injured).
Rockets are looking more and more threatening to the Warriors right now. We can only imagine how good they would be with LeBron. Just looking at the picture scares me.
However, not everything is that good as it seems. LeBron stated on multiple occasions that he will never take a penny less then a max contract.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
That would mean that Rockets most likely wouldn't be able to keep some of crucial pieces in Mike D'Antoni's system. Trevor Ariza, Clint Capela and Luc Mbah a Moute are free agents and would probably have to leave the Rockets if LeBron would come.
Not to mention Ryan Anderson's huge 21 million $ per year contract which is a huge setback for the Rockets salary cap and might play a crucial role in this story.
Besides San Antonio, Rockets would put LeBron in the best situation to win now, and keep to hope of surpassing Michael Jordan alive. On that note, LeBron for sure wouldn't have any more Finals losses, right?
Shiny Hollywood lights
As you could guess form my username and profile picture, previous articles(you get the point), I am juuuuust a little bit biased on this one. OK now, jokes aside,let's take completely objective and analytic approach on the topic.
LeBron to Los Angeles Lakers is looking a legitimate option for LeBron to consider this summer. Just like with Philly he would join a young promising team. No one is on Embiid level yet, but it is looking very well.
I did an article on the Lakers, so if you want you can check it out on my profile.
The main difference between Lakers and Sixers is that Lakers have 2 max slots available, so another superstar can join Lakers together with LeBron. Paul George as been outspoken on how he wants to play for the Lakers. DeMarcus Cousins is also a free agent. A lot of combinations are on the table and Magic Johnoson and Rob pelinka have a lot of money in the bank to spend. No doubt LeBron + another superstar, alongside Lonzo, Kuzma and Ingram would be contenders.
Furthermore, there is another thing important to LeBron that is overlooked sometimes. Besides being outstanding basketball player, he is a business mogul and has a looooooot of business he needs to take care about. And guess where the most of his business partners are located? You guessed it, it's in LA. Living in LA would boost his endorsements, sponsorships and other business he owns. Los Angeles is the biggest NBA market and saying a word "Hollywood" is pretty much self explanatory.
And the most important thing is that Lakers have billboards too (in your face Philly๐)
The King also owns two multi million dollar mansions in Los Angeles, so let's say LeBron and his family like LA, at least the weather if nothing else.
LeBron however, never liked playing with young players in his career though. He always wanted proven veterans by his side, but just maybe, the time has come for a change.
At least one thing is certain...
This summer is not going to be boring for NBA fans.
To be fair, no one truly knows where will LeBron play next season. Probably not even LeBron himself. For now, he is focused on carrying this mediocre Cavs team to another success and when the time comes, he will have plenty of time to think about what his next move will be.(Please come to the Lakers(and bring PG#13 with you)๐๐)
What ever the case, third part of The Decision is coming up this summer, and if it's going to be as good as the first two, we are in for a blast!