Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum doesn’t appear to think his team has a strong shot at signing LeBron James this summer.<\/p>\n
Tatum was a guest Wednesday on Today to promote his new children’s book. During the interview, he was asked whether he considered how James would look in a Celtics jersey.<\/p>\n
“That hasn’t crossed my mind,” he said (6:01 mark).<\/p>\n
Rich Paul, James’ agent, told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin<\/a> earlier this month that 27 teams reached out to him about the 22-time All-Star. Through a reference to Tatum and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, Boston was also included on a whiteboard Paul spotlighted in an episode of his Game Over podcast to lay out some of LeBron’s options:<\/p>\n Because James almost certainly isn’t going to sign a max contract, franchises that don’t have a lot of salary cap space remain in the hunt. The Celtics could offer him the $5.5 million<\/a> bi-annual exception.<\/p>\n Setting the finances aside, Boston’s hopes of getting the surefire Hall of Famer took a hit when it traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers. Maybe the team is better off in the long run having shed Brown’s contract, but it took a step backward in the short term.<\/p>\n