{"id":827557,"date":"2026-07-26T17:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827557\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T17:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:23:09","slug":"rich-paul-details-four-teams-in-race-for-lebron-james-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827557\/","title":{"rendered":"Rich Paul details four teams in race for LeBron James free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The four teams that F LeBron James \u201cstrongly considered\u201d were the 76ers, Heat, Cavaliers and Warriors, and agent Rich Paul that James\u2019 list was never shortened to finalists. During an appearance on Max Kellerman\u2019s \u201cGame On\u201d podcast, Paul said James made the decision \u201c100%\u201d on Friday at 1am after going \u201cback and forth\u201d all day. Paul: \u201cIt was a really tough decision for him. It was a rollercoaster ride. I\u2019m seeing the rollercoaster every day \u2026 Seeing a guy that accomplished still get excited and a little nervous is a cool thing to see.\u201d Paul said the Sixers were only considered after the acquisition of G Jaylen Brown from the Celtics. He said James\u2019 relationships with fellow Klutch Sports client and Sixer G Tyrese Maxey played a role as did his relationship with Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey. Both were high school stars in Ohio. Paul: \u201cAdding someone like LJ to that fold, when you have a mix and old, you need young to compete in today\u2019s game \u2026 Do they have the perfect roster? Probably not. Do they have a pretty good starting five? Probably so.\u201d Paul also commented on ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter saying that he was told by a trusted source to watch out for the Heat: \u201cI felt bad for my guy Adam Schefter; somebody sold him a lemon\u201d (MIAMI HERALD, 7\/25<\/a>). <\/p>\n

The WALL STREET JOURNAL\u2019s O\u2019Connell & Federman said James might be \u201cthe NBA\u2019s greatest bargain ever.\u201d The 76ers \u201cdidn\u2019t just get one of the greatest players in history. They got him on a budget\u201d (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7\/26<\/a>).<\/p>\n

THE ATHLETIC\u2019s Verdon & Aldridge wrote under the headline: \u201cInside LeBron\u2019s Philadelphia Decision: Why pretty much everyone was completely in the dark.\u201d No one \u201cknew what LeBron was going to do up until Friday. They might have\u202fthought\u202fthey knew from time to time, but it played out as a winding mystery\u201d (THE ATHLETIC, 7\/25<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote under the header, \u201cLeBron is still chasing championships and that\u2019s great for sports.\u201d You \u201cdon\u2019t have to love him, or like the way he has moved (around). \u2026 But you have to know at the same time that nobody has ever wanted to win more than he does.\u201d Lupica: \u201cAs much, certainly. Just not more\u201d (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7\/25<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The implications of James\u2019 move to Philly were apparent in coverage around the country:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four teams that F LeBron James \u201cstrongly considered\u201d were the 76ers, Heat, Cavaliers and Warriors, and agent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[461,49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-827557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}