![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pat-Riley-1-e1784567292516.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Pat Riley revealed that he is on good terms with LeBron James at the Heat continue to pursue him in free agency<\/p>\n
Just when it appeared that the Miami Heat<\/a> were close to sealing the deal with LeBron James<\/a>, Rich Paul has called a timeout.<\/p>\n Addressing his client\u2019s free agency on Monday, Paul clarified that James is nowhere near choosing a team and has no set timeline. The comments were a response to NBA commissioner Adam Silver urging James to make a decision quickly<\/a>, so the league can proceed with finalizing the schedule for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be rushed,\u201d Paul said on the \u201cGame Over\u201d podcast, via ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin.<\/a> \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be rushed. It\u2019s his choice to make and when he makes the choice, he\u2019ll make it.\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron James Free Agency: Miami Heat Wait<\/p>\n Interestingly, Paul suggested that James\u2019 suitors have reached out to him to reassess if they should be making specific roster tweaks to appease the 41-year-old star. Paul made it clear that James already had the information he needed and was deliberating.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been several people to call and say, \u2018Hey, Rich, is there anything more we should be doing? We could be doing?’\u201d Paul revealed.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd my answer is, \u2018No. We don\u2019t need you to go above and beyond about anything. We understand it. It\u2019s clear. All the messages have been sent.’\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron James Free Agency: No Frontrunner<\/p>\n Since James officially became a free agent on July 1, there\u2019s been no clear-cut frontrunner to land his services. Initially, it was widely believed that the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> were the favorites to land their hometown star, with the Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors<\/a> next in the pecking order. Over the past week, though, the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> emerged as a likely destination after reports revealed that Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid<\/a> and Jaylen Brown all reached out to James to recruit him, and James later met Sixers majority owner Josh Harris<\/a>.<\/p>\n James further fueled those rumors when he claimed his free-agency decision will boil down to \u201ctrusting the process\u201d and that he prefers to join a team that shares his motto.<\/p>\n The back-and-forth speculation notwithstanding, the Heat emerged as the new betting favorites earlier this week. However, Paul shot down the chatter with a blunt take.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people don\u2019t know anything,\u201d Paul said of the LeBron James free agency.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know when his choice is going to be made, but it could be 48 seconds [from now]. It could be 48 minutes. I don\u2019t know. Again, you can\u2019t make somebody know something that they don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n With the process dragging into its fourth week, several analysts have criticized James for turning his free agency into a circus at his suitors\u2019 expense, and even costing them an opportunity to recruit other players.<\/p>\n Paul fired back at those critics on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s important for people to understand: We\u2019re not making this about attention and a spectacle,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about a \u2018Decision\u2019 or anything like that. He has a choice to make. He has a business choice to make. We\u2019re not going to sit here and decide or allow someone else to decide when he makes that decision. \u2026 It\u2019s a business choice that he\u2019s making. And I think as an athlete, why is it that an athlete has to rush his choice?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Pat Riley revealed that he is on good terms with LeBron James at the Heat continue to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-347256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}