Appearing Friday on The Pat McAfee Show (Twitter video link), LeBron James‘ agent revealed that there’s already significant interest in his client if he decides to leave the Lakers. Rich Paul of Klutch Sports said at least 10 teams have expressed an interest in signing James if he can’t work out a new contract with L.A. before the start of free agency on June 30.
“There have been incoming calls from every team with the excitement of possibly him playing for them,” Paul said. “So, at 41 years of age, going on 42, that’s something to be extremely proud about, and it’s one of those things that’s like ‘Wow, even at 42 I’m still wanted.’ That’s admirable. Without naming names, I would say about 10-12 teams.”
Although Paul didn’t identify any of the suitors, a couple of potential destinations have been widely reported. There has been repeated speculation that James might want to end his career playing alongside Stephen Curry with the Warriors after they joined forces to win a gold medal on Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. Steve Kerr coached that team, and James has a strong relationship with Draymond Green, so it may be a logical next step. However, Golden State’s offer would be limited to around $15MM through the mid-level exception unless there’s a sign-and-trade or a massive roster overhaul.
It’s also been suggested that James would like to return to Cleveland, where he was drafted in 2003 and delivered the city’s only NBA title in 2016. But the Cavaliers already have an expensive roster in place and wouldn’t be able to offer more than a veteran’s minimum deal.
Age hasn’t been a factor yet for James, who’s coming off his 22nd straight All-Star appearance and might have challenged for All-NBA honors if he had reached the 65-game minimum. He averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per night in 60 games and helped the Lakers claim the fourth seed in the West. With Luka Doncic unavailable and Austin Reaves also dealing with an injury, James led L.A. past Houston in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Oklahoma City.
With the start of free agency a little more than two weeks away, leaguewide chatter regarding James’ next destination has already started to heat up. However, Paul told McAfee that none of the reports so far have any basis in fact, and he repeated that message on his Game Over podcast on the Ringer (Twitter video link).
“There’s nobody that knows anything about anything that pertains to LeBron,” Paul said. “All these reports, nobody knows. They’re just speculating. They put out salaries, nobody knows. There’s been zero conversations and there won’t be conversations until I have a conversation with the man himself.”
