Nobody does free agency better than LeBron James. From announcing his decision in an ESPN special to publishing a handwritten letter to promising a handful of NBA championships to returning home as a hero. The 41-year-old is as one-for-one with theatrics as he is on the court.
After recently announcing he won’t return to the Los Angeles Lakers but will continue his legendary career elsewhere, James has become the face of this summer’s free agency. Sure, the 22-time All-Star isn’t at the peak of his powers anymore, but last season showed he can still help out with a winner.
And if the reports and rumors are true, James is hoping to compete for a championship with his squad — regardless of salary or status on the team. A few teams have popped up as his most-likely suitors. The Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry would be must-watch TV; another home return to the Cleveland Cavaliers is storybook stuff; so would be teaming up with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Miami Heat.
Let’s see how the biggest offseason storyline unravels. Now that the NBA has mostly made all of its blockbuster moves before the 4th of July, the rest of the summer can be focused on who James joins for an NBA-record 24th season in the league.
To add to the drama, Max Kellerman and Rich Paul broke down James’ choices on a whiteboard like a true detective show in the latest episode of their ‘Game Over’ podcast series. Of course, Paul’s ascension to the top of the NBA agency game is rooted in representing James. Since then, he’s grown a sports empire at Klutch Sports.
Revealing more details on James’ journey, Paul said that most of the NBA has reached out to him to at least test the waters on how the 41-year-old would feel about joining their team. More specifically, 27 of 29 teams — 93.1% of the sans-one league. Only the Lakers have bowed out from the sweepstakes.
“The other day, I said 10-12 teams. I counted today. Outside of one organization — maybe two — I’ve heard from every organization in the league,” Paul said. “Every other organization.”
You can drum up all types of theories as to who the two teams are that have yet to dial Paul’s number. That said, there’s a greater-than-zero chance that the Oklahoma City Thunder are part of the group of 27. Just from a sheer numbers standpoint.
James’ arrival to OKC would be a pretty surreal moment in not just their franchise history, but state history. He’s a walking billion-dollar industry. Everybody’s status around the team and fanbase would receive a boost from his presence. On the court, he’d give the Thunder an All-Star from last year — albeit, the basketball fit wouldn’t necessarily be seamless.
This is all surely just fantasy talk, though. The type of thing that occupies around 15 minutes on local sports radio during the slow time of the year. As Kellerman and Paul detailed, there is a circle of teams who have a semi-realistic shot to land James.
Per Paul’s whiteboard, the Philadelphia 76ers, Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Cavaliers were prominently featured. And a secondary group consisted of the Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks. Heck, Paul admitted that if that final team didn’t win the NBA championship, James would already be there.
It’ll be fun to see how James’ latest free agency saga plays out. It’s a throwback to how NBA summers usually played out. Nowadays, most guys just re-up with their teams and ask for a trade if things go sideways. Also cool to see that the 41-year-old can generate this much buzz still.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: There’s a 93% chance that OKC Thunder, LeBron James have had offseason talks
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