{"id":783657,"date":"2026-07-06T23:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783657\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T23:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:51:23","slug":"lebron-suitors-expecting-him-to-sign-with-cavaliers-per-insider-nbc-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783657\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron suitors expecting him to sign with Cavaliers, per insider \u2013 NBC Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of the NBA world spent last week convinced LeBron James was heading to the Warriors<\/a>. Brian Windhorst thinks they should pump the brakes.<\/p>\n

The ESPN insider, who has covered LeBron for over two decades, appeared on “Pardon My Take”<\/a> this week and offered a sobering reality check; nearly every league source he has spoken to privately believes James is not headed to the Warriors, the Miami Heat or anywhere else. They think he is going back to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to people in Philly, and I\u2019m like, ‘What do you think?’\u201d Windhorst said. \u201c\u2018We\u2019re afraid it\u2019s Cleveland.\u2019 Everybody I talked to is like, \u2018We\u2019re afraid it\u2019s Cleveland.\u2019 Nobody seems like they have optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Windhorst was careful to frame this as a reflection of league sentiment rather than his own prediction. But when the consistent refrain from sources across multiple franchises is fear rather than confidence, it carries weight.<\/p>\n

The complicating factor, and the reason Warriors fans have not abandoned hope completely, is Draymond Green. When Green declined his $27.7 million player option<\/a> last Monday, it sent a signal to the entire league that something was brewing in the Bay. Windhorst read it the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Draymond opted out of his contract, I was like, ‘Well, Draymond knows LeBron\u2019s out of LA,’\u201d Windhorst said. \u201cHe very clearly doesn\u2019t opt out of his contract unless he knows that there\u2019s a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Windhorst made a distinction that gets lost in the noise — Green opting out does not necessarily mean he had confirmation that LeBron was coming to the Warriors. It means he had confirmation that LeBron was not going back to Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it seems like is that he was operating with the knowledge LeBron was not going back to the Lakers — not that LeBron was for sure going to the Warriors,\u201d Windhorst added. \u201cI\u2019ve never believed that a player on spec [speculation] would opt out. He would maybe know. So when Draymond opted out I was like, ‘Well, he\u2019s got to be operating with some knowledge.’\u201d<\/p>\n

That nuance matters enormously for how Warriors fans should read this situation. Green leaving money on the table is a signal of intent — it tells you he believes Golden State has a real shot. It does not tell you the deal is done.<\/p>\n

Windhorst acknowledged as much. \u201cI definitely think Draymond opts out because he thinks there\u2019s a reasonable chance LeBron could go with the Warriors,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think they\u2019re absolutely on the books.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wild card is that LeBron himself has framed this entire decision around one deliberately vague criterion — happiness. Windhorst noted that the word gives James maximum flexibility to justify any choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says it\u2019s about happiness; well, that is so wonderfully amorphous and nebulous,\u201d Windhorst said. \u201cLike, who\u2019s to say what makes another man happy? So if he picks the Warriors he can say, \u2018I want to play with Steph\u2019 — who\u2019s going to say that doesn\u2019t make somebody happy?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors are on the board. Cleveland is the NBA’s quiet fear. And LeBron James, as he has done throughout his career, is the only one who knows exactly where this ends.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much of the NBA world spent last week convinced LeBron James was heading to the Warriors. Brian Windhorst…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7901,5552,7896,590,219245,85,60571],"class_list":["post-783657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-draymond-green","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-nba-rumors","tag-sports","tag-warriors-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}