{"id":779257,"date":"2026-07-23T05:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779257\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:02:14","slug":"we-just-got-the-first-real-big-clue-of-lebron-james-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779257\/","title":{"rendered":"We just got the first &#8216;real big clue&#8217; of LeBron James&#8217; free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kendrick Perkins doesn\u2019t believe it was a meaningless mistake.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s Kendrick Perkins said on \u201cFirst Take\u201d that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/22\/sports\/did-heats-youtube-account-spoil-lebrons-free-agency-decision\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Miami Heat uploading a video on Tuesday night<\/a> titled \u201cLeBron James Introductory press conference\u201d was no accident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose things don\u2019t just happen under Pat Riley\u2019s watch,\u201d Perkins said. \u201c\u2026 This means that Miami is really in the hunt. They\u2019re in the thick of this. LeBron James could possibly end up back in South Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.35629139;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40060693\" width=\"800\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/los-angeles-lakers-forward-lebron-120242957.jpg\" alt=\"LeBron James playing against the Knicks on Feb. 1, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-40060693\"  \/>LeBron James playing against the Knicks on Feb. 1, 2026. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n<p>Perkins went on to say that this was the \u201cfirst real big clue\u201d of the offseason from an organization that James has interest in.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday morning, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/sports\/nba\/miami-heat\/article316603817.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Miami Herald reported <\/a>that the deleted video, scheduled to air on Monday, July 27th, was accidentally uploaded by the Heat\u2019s social media department as they were preparing for the possibility of James rejoining the team.<\/p>\n<p>From 2010-2014, James was the face of the Miami franchise and led them to two NBA championships, where he was crowned Finals MVP and League MVP in 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n<p>After an NBA Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, James departed from the team and signed with his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/p>\n<p>Heat president of basketball operations <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/20\/sports\/pat-riley-reveals-status-of-lebron-james-relationship-after-rocky-heat-split\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pat Riley admitted that he was disappointed<\/a> with James\u2019 decision to leave, as he believed the team was on the verge of becoming a dynasty. Riley said he still enjoys seeing James around, which has sparked rumors of him rejoining the team.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been three weeks since James informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he would not be returning next season, and the pressure of choosing his next team has been starting to build up. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/sports\/adam-silver-pushing-lebron-james-into-free-agency-decision-will-backfire-draymond-green\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NBA commissioner Adam Silver has urged James <\/a>to make his decision soon so that the league can finish making next season\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40060685\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lebron-james-speaks-onstage-mind-134609377.jpg\" alt=\"LeBron James speaks onstage during the mind the game panel at Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 at Jacob Javits Center on July 16, 2026 in New York City.\" class=\"wp-image-40060685\"  \/>LeBron James speaks onstage during the mind the game panel at Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 at Jacob Javits Center on July 16, 2026 in New York City. Getty Images for Fanatics<\/p>\n<p>On Monday night, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/sports\/rich-paul-updates-timeframe-for-lebron-james-free-agency-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">James\u2019 agent and long-time friend Rich Paul<\/a> said that James will be taking his time to make a decision, as the four-time MVP still doesn\u2019t know where he wants to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kendrick Perkins doesn\u2019t believe it was a meaningless mistake. ESPN\u2019s Kendrick Perkins said on \u201cFirst Take\u201d that the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[3013,8173,7626,349,99,1625],"class_list":["post-779257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-lebron-james","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}