LeBron James is officially a member of the Los Angeles Lakers but it was not always a certainty that the offseason would shape up that way.
James did not meet with any teams (except for his now legendary talk with Magic Johnson) but his associates did call the Cavaliers and hold a meeting with the 76ers in Los Angeles. As it turns out, the Sixers felt pretty good about that meeting.
Following via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk:
“I think they considered us very strongly,” Harris said of James’ group Monday at the Las Vegas Summer League. “I think he — I would be speculating on how he makes his decisions, and I don’t want to do that — but I think that they were really serious [about Philadelphia]. The fact that they took the meeting with us was something that they didn’t view lightly, so I think that they were very serious about it.”
Look, I’m sure James did give thought to a talented Sixers team in the Eastern Conference but in a sport where players are evaluated based on their Ringzzzz and organizations’ sole goals are winning championships, it’s a little weird to be taking a victory lap about finishing second.
But hey, I get it. I’ve been in second place plenty of times in my life and felt pretty good about it.
- The lottery strongly considered giving me millions of dollars to pay off my student debt.
- Rihanna strongly considered dating me (there’s still time, Riri).
- My parents strongly considered being proud of me.
- I strongly considered eating In N Out for a week straight.
There’s no shame in losing the LeBron sweepstakes. The Lakers are in Los Angeles, they have the legacy, and they actually have pretty great flexibility to make some things happen on the basketball court. The Sixers owner not having to pay a noted activist and denouncer of the current presidential administration in LeBron and giving that money to Jared Kushner instead isn’t even that big of a loss to him!
All jokes aside, LeBron James is a Laker and that’s all that matters.
