With the 2009-2010 NBA Season coming to a close, the countdown to Lebron James being a free agent only inches closer. On July 1st, 2010, the Sportsworld will be inudated with the fact that Lebron James (among other blue-chip free agents) will be eligible to sign with another team. In order to understand the chaos that is about to ensue, let's breakdown the possibillities for where Lebron James might land this offseason. In order to do so, we need to begin with a few hypotheticals:
IF Lebron James and The Cleveland Cavaliers make it to the NBA Finals and WIN, then Lebron James will STAY in Cleveland.
IF Lebron James and The Cleveland Cavaliers make it to the Eastern Conference Finals/NBA Finals and LOSE, then Lebron will most likely leave for one of the following teams:
1. The New York Knicks: Being that Lebron has been trying to play in a big market since his inception in the NBA it would make perfect sense that he would sign with New York, a team that can offer him the max contract along with a hefty endorsement package from such big name companies as Nike which would hail him as the "Savior of Gotham"
2. The New Jersey Nets: While a darkhorse pick at best, The Nets, who have been compared to the "Bad News Bears" in recent years, have the ability to offer Lebron the max contract along with the fact that they have just been bought out by a Russian Billionaire who can legitimately throw any conceivable amount of money at Lebron by making him a "shadow CEO" at one of the many businesses that he owns. By throwing the max contract at Lebron on top of an unimaginable amount of money, The Nets are not the craziest location for Lebron to land in.
3. The Chicago Bulls: Lebron recently lobbied the NBA to allow him to change his number from #23 to #6 for next season. In doing so, Lebron may possibly be foreshadowing his signing with The Bulls where he would effectively be able to return Chicago to the glory days of Michael Jordan. This conspiracy theory is particularly interesting due to the fact that never before have two of the greatest players of all time played on the same team, yet in different decades.
4. The Los Angeles Clippers: While this one is undoubtedly a longshot, it would make perfect sense that Lebron would sign with a Los Angeles team that has been failing for as long as just about anyone can imagine in order to ressurect the team and have Los Angeles be the city where two of the league's greatest players play: Kobe vs. Lebron
Of the locations where Lebron could land, it is quite clear that all is speculation until all the cards have fallen into place. Until then, us die hard NBA basketball fans can do nothing but wait and see where King James will end up next. As a lifelong New York Knicks fan, all I can do is pray that the greatest basketball player ever will be one day playing in MSG.
