MIAMI — So a LeBron James reunion with the Miami Heat might come down to . . . golf?
Says who? Says agent Rich Paul.
“As long as there’s indoor and outdoor golf, I think he’ll be fine,” Paul said on his Game Over podcast, amid James’ search for a new NBA home in free agency after cutting ties with the Los Angeles Lakers.
A Heat reunion seemingly inconceivable at the start of the week — with James coming off a $52.6 million salary last season with the Lakers and with the Heat currently positioned to be able to barely offer 10% of that for next season — now apparently stands with “happiness” as the endgame pursuit.
Paul on his podcast furthered that narrative about James’ desires at 41.
“When you talk about happiness, you got to remember, it’s always been this thing about money,” Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports, said. “I think the ‘happiness’ word comes into play when you’re saying, ‘No, this isn’t about money. Let’s not make this about money. Let’s just make this about me ultimately making a decision based upon how I feel I want to position myself and be totally happy.’ ”
James has not commented publicly about the pursuit, other than a social-media message of thanks to the Lakers. The 22-time All-Star delivered a championship to the Lakers with their 2020 NBA Finals conquest of the Heat in the Disney pandemic bubble.
The options at the moment appear to be a pairing with Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors, a return to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, or a reunion with the Heat, the team he led to NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014, with championships in 2012 and ’13.
Paul cited championship contention as a prime driver for James, with the Heat boosted in that regard with last week’s agreement to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I’ve talked to probably about 12 to 14 teams,” Paul said. “You can let your imagination run.”
As it now has been for many NBA executives, with free agency for yet another time slowed by an impending James decision, similar to the one that rocked the NBA world when he joined the Heat in the 2010 offseason to play alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
While there then was an ugly Heat parting in 2014 free agency, when James returned to the Cavaliers, fences significantly have been mended since, with James spending time with Heat president Pat Riley when Riley was honored with a statue this past season in front of the Lakers’ arena.
Riley, even amid the immediate tension of James’ 2014 departure, mentioned that there always would be a key left under the mat should James desire a return.
While age has removed a bit of the explosiveness and reduced the defensive impact, the elite level of play has endured, including a 20.9 scoring avenge this past season, along with 7.2 assists per game, James now as much a facilitator as scorer.
Having moved to second wheel in the Lakers’ hierarchy behind Luka Doncic, there already has been concession to no longer playing as leading man, despite doing just that in the Lakers’ first-round playoff series win over the Houston Rockets this past season, when Doncic and Austin Reaves were sidelined.
“I know there’s going to be a lot of speculation on teams,” Paul said. “Everyone is going to speculate on teams. And it’s exactly that, it’s all speculation.
“I can’t put a timeline on it. We all have to sit here and speculate until we have nothing else to speculate about.”