LeBron James is not going back to the Lakers. Everyone in the NBA world knows that by now. The only question left is which team is signing the greatest basketball player of all time for what will almost certainly be his final NBA stop.
Wednesday night at the ESPYs, LeBron may have accidentally given us the biggest hint yet.
When asked about the state of the league, LeBron got animated talking about the Eastern Conference. He rattled off the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, and the Philadelphia 76ers as teams he called “loaded” and “ready to take that next step.” That is not a coincidence. Those are the exact three teams insiders have linked him to for weeks.
LeBron has always been a guy who talks in code. He does not say the quiet part out loud. He hints, he winks, he lets his team of trusted reporters do the actual leaking. So when he spends a red-carpet interview gushing about three specific Eastern Conference contenders, you should probably pay attention.
The Cavaliers make sense for a bunch of reasons. Cleveland is his hometown. Kenny Atkinson is still the head coach after a disappointing conference finals exit. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are locked in. Add LeBron and suddenly you have a team that can push the defending champion Knicks.
The Sixers are the trickier fit. Philly just acquired Jaylen Brown from Boston in a blockbuster deal, so the roster already has Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Brown. Fitting LeBron into that group would take real cap gymnastics. But Daryl Morey has never let cap gymnastics stop him from doing anything, and pairing LeBron with Embiid would be the most terrifying pick and roll combination in the league.
Miami is the sneaky option. The Heat just landed Giannis Antetokounmpo in that stunning blockbuster with Milwaukee. Adding LeBron to a lineup with Giannis, Bam Adebayo (assuming they can bury the Herro drama), and Andrew Wiggins would give Erik Spoelstra the deepest, most versatile roster in basketball.
The one team LeBron did not mention? The Golden State Warriors. Steve Kerr and Steph Curry have publicly courted him for months. Warriors ownership has reportedly been bracing for bad news, and comments like these are why. If LeBron wanted to play with Steph, he would not have spent Wednesday night raving about Cleveland.
The Warriors are done pretending. They know LeBron is going East. That leaves three teams in a real bidding war for the King.
The 41-year-old James still has plenty left in the tank. He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 assists, and 7.3 rebounds last season while shooting nearly 40 percent from three. Any team that lands him gets a guaranteed contender.
Insiders have suggested LeBron may wait until after July 20 to make his call. That gives us about five more days of speculation. But if you were paying attention Wednesday night, you already know how this ends. LeBron James is going East. Now we just get to argue about which lucky city he picks.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
