LAS VEGAS \u2014 It could have been a scene straight out of a yet-to-be-written dystopian basketball novel: Bob Myers, the Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 chief executive, seated next to super agent Rich Paul on the set of Paul\u2019s video podcast, stating the case for Philadelphia to land Paul\u2019s client, the most attractive NBA free agent in the summer of 2026, LeBron James. What we\u2019re hearing about LeBron James\u2019 decision and the role of Rich Paul\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf (LeBron) was here, I\u2019d say, \u2018I honestly believe this is your best chance to win,\u2019\u201d Myers said during the latest episode of Paul\u2019s \u201cGame Over\u201d podcast with Max Kellerman<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was the latest, strangest turn in another league-business-stopping, edge-cutting free agency for James. Executives such as Myers in Philadelphia, Koby Altman in Cleveland, Mike Dunleavy Jr. in Golden State and Pat Riley in Miami aren\u2019t getting meetings with James. Not this time. They can talk to Paul, who relays the information to James, who at some point between now and September will decide which team he will join for his 24th NBA season.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Paul is breaking some serious news with that podcast of his. As you may have heard on the same pod last week, he busted out a whiteboard with the top potential destinations<\/a> for James and laid out, in great detail, why his client \u2014 the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer, a four-time champion and four-time NBA MVP \u2014 was considering each team.<\/p>\n The team that makes the most sense for LeBron James<\/p>\n Esfandiar Baraheni<\/p>\n Myers\u2019 guest appearance \u2014 and publicly stated case for James to pick the Sixers \u2014 was so strange, audacious or entertaining (or all three) because these kinds of pitches are never made on platforms like this. They are saved for private boardrooms or Zoom calls, and almost always made directly to the player, with the agent sitting next to him.<\/p>\n \u201cAwkward,\u201d said one executive of a potential James suitor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about Paul\u2019s show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe podcast is a brilliant idea by them because it regains a narrative for them they may have lost,\u201d said another league source who also spoke\u00a0on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about Paul\u2019s show.<\/p>\n Is Paul setting up a \u201cHunger Games\u201d-style competition for James\u2019 services, with executives from each potential suitor joining him on set over a period of six weeks, with the winner to be announced by Paul and James on the same show some time before the start of fall training camp?<\/p>\n The answer is no, according to multiple league sources with direct knowledge of James\u2019 free agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private scheduling and broadcast plans. Myers\u2019 appearance on the show was planned before James\u2019 free agency began.<\/p>\n But it\u2019d be on brand for James\u2019 free agency history if that were the plan.<\/p>\n This will be the fourth time in James\u2019 storied career that he has switched teams. In each of his first three transfers, he and his management team owned the narrative and the news, making decisions on James\u2019 timeline and announcing them on his terms.<\/p>\n The first, when he took his talents from Cleveland to South Beach in 2010, was unveiled in an ESPN TV special after weeks of in-person meetings with team executives. The second, when he returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, was revealed in an online open letter<\/a> dictated by James to Sports Illustrated, after a private, face-to-face clearing of the air between James and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. (Veteran NBA reporter Chris Sheridan predicted on his own website that James had decided to leave Miami for Cleveland a few days before the SI letter dropped.)<\/p>\n The third, when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, was announced in a news release from Paul\u2019s Klutch Sports Group agency after then-Lakers president Magic Johnson met with James at LeBron\u2019s Los Angeles home.<\/p>\n League executives who spoke with The Athletic on Thursday in Las Vegas at the official start of the NBA 2026 Summer League said there was only one team executive believed to have had direct contact with James during this free agency: Brandon Weems, a childhood friend to LeBron who works in Cleveland\u2019s front office and appeared in photographs posted to social media of James and his friends partying in Akron, Ohio over the July 4 holiday.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I haven\u2019t talked to him,\u201d one general manager of a potential James suitor said.<\/p>\n The next stop for LeBron should be…<\/p>\n David Aldridge, Joe Vardon and more<\/p>\n Sources with knowledge of James\u2019 free agency declined to say how LeBron would announce his decision this time or disclose whether a plan for the announcement was even set. But if a legacy media company unaffiliated with James or Paul breaks the news, it would be a first.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the teams Paul had said were contenders on his podcast \u2014 the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks \u2014 were all unaware of James intentions as of Thursday and prepared to remain in the dark for days to come.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really don\u2019t know, we just know what we read,\u201d one executive of a potential James suitor said. \u201cMy friends text me and ask what he\u2019s going to do, and I don\u2019t have to lie to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Because the Lakers renounced their rights to James as a free agent, his next contract will be limited by the league\u2019s salary cap. There is no longer a sign-and-trade scenario available with the Lakers. None of the finalists cited by Paul have cap space, so James can either earn the nontaxpayer midlevel exception to the salary cap (about $16 million), the taxpayer midlevel exception (about $6 million) or the veteran\u2019s minimum (about $4 million for a player with James\u2019 years of service).<\/p>\n Paul said money would not be a factor in James\u2019 decision, as he is worth more than $1 billion according to Forbes Magazine. For someone of his wealth, the difference in salaries available to him is negligible.<\/p>\n If he didn\u2019t retire \u2014 which was on the table after his 23rd season ended in a second-round sweep of the Lakers by the Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014 NBA executives widely expected James to return to L.A. for a significantly higher salary than is currently available to him. Those opinions began to change when news broke on June 29 that the Warriors\u2019 Draymond Green, a friend of James who is also represented by Paul, declined his $27 million option to return to Golden State.<\/a> The prevailing thought is that he did so to give the Warriors the flexibility to sign James and perhaps trade for Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n