WHERE WILL LEBRON GO??

LeBron James. There's only one title left for the man to snatch. Greatest of all time. And that's why this offseason, he's going to... Pretty much since the start of this past season, after Kyrie was released, a lot of people have believed that it might be LeBron's last year in Cleveland. And I think at this point, we can all pretty much agree that LeBron is going somewhere else. The question is, where will that somewhere be? It seems like since the Cavs lost the finals, I've been hearing more and more potential landing spots for LeBron being thrown out there. But I think we all know that there are only about a handful of teams that really have a shot. Sorry Nets. At least you still have... D'Angelo Russell. So today we're going to cut it down to the real contenders and look at why or why not King James would want to take his talents to those teams. First off, let's set a general groundwork for what LeBron is really looking for, just so we can try to judge this fairly. Before anything else factors in, you need the cap space. I don't care how much he wants to win, the best player in the world is gonna command a max deal, period. That segues into the second point. LeBron himself has flat out said, his strongest motivation left in the game of basketball is chasing the ghost that played in Chicago. What that means is he wants to be fully recognized as the GOAT. And we all know for that to happen, it'll come down to rings. So you 100% need to be able to put together enough talent in place around LeBron to realistically contend for titles for the next few years and hopefully beyond. Lastly, and I put this last because it's the weakest of the three. It's better if you're located in a big market. LeBron is a mogul. Alright, he's a businessman. He's about his bread, his guac, his green. So it's widely agreed that LeBron would much prefer to go to a city that could help him off the court as well as on. So with those guidelines down, let's jump right into the teams. Right off the bat, let me cut off two stragglers. There's been rumblings about the Heat and even a bit about the Clippers. Both are intriguing markets, but really don't have much else to offer. Neither team has nearly enough talent to compete with the Warriors and the Heat don't even have enough cap space because they overpaid a bunch of mediocre players. Sorry, Whiteside. Basically, both of these teams have simply no chance of landing the King. From there, let's look at the five real possibilities. Starting with the San Antonio Spurs. This one has been picking up a lot of steam recently after it was reported that Greg Popovich wanted to quote, sit down with LeBron this offseason to pitch the Spurs. Honestly, I think the Spurs are an underrated candidate. I mean they have a top five player to pair with LeBron in Kawhi who could truly be the Pippen to LeBron's Jordan. They have another perennial all-star in stretch big LaMarcus Aldridge and they have the best coach of the generation who already has five rings himself. On the surface, it looks amazing. But even though their talent and assets check all the boxes, they're really lacking in the other categories. For one, they would have to clear $35 million in cap space to be able to sign LeBron which would be tough to do without possibly trading Aldridge. On top of that, San Antonio is the total opposite of the big market that LeBron is looking for especially compared to all the other cities on his list. Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, San Antonio ranks as the 31st biggest market in the U.S. There are 30 teams in the league. Also, the Kawhi Leonard controversy throws an extra wrench into the situation. If they can't keep Leonard, they've really got no shot. So, San Antonio is not at all out of the equation if they manage to keep their talent and if LeBron is willing to make some sacrifices. But they're definitely not the top destination. Next, we'll go to what I see as a similar situation. LeBronston. The Celtics, like the Spurs, have elite talent to surround LeBron with including a guy in Kyrie who's already had experience winning with LeBron. They also have Brad Stevens who many would agree has proven himself to be the second best coach after Puck. On top of that, Boston ranks at a very respectable number 10 among the top media markets in the country and they have a boatload of talented young players and future draft assets that could potentially extend LeBron's window of winning. So far, so good. But, just like the Spurs, the Celtics do not have even close to the cap space needed to sign LeBron and would also need to unload over $30 million to make room for him. Realistically, that would have to involve a signing trade to get rid of Gordon Hayward which would then require three teams to be involved and it would just get messy. A lot of people feel that a large part of Kyrie leaving Cleveland in the first place was to get away from LeBron so that might complicate things more. Overall, I would say Boston ranks above San Antonio but again, cap space is so crucial and it's an uncertainty at this point. Even if they were able to clear enough space, going to a team that had just made the conference finals the year before might hurt LeBron's GOAT status which is the last thing he wants to do. Then there's Houston. Like the last two teams, Houston has all the talent that LeBron needs with James Harden, Chris Paul, and an impressive set of role players. Houston also ranks as the best media market yet, listed at number 8 in the country. But, also like the last two teams, their odds of landing the king are significantly hurt by their cap situation. In a hypothetical scenario, even if they cut several key role players like PJ Tucker, Bryan Anderson, and Nene, LeBron and Chris Paul would still both have to take a bit of a discount, especially considering the fact that Paul says he wants a max deal. That, of course, would hurt the bench unit that made the Rockets so good this year. The Rockets also made the conference finals, so the same issue of looking like a bandwagoner could rise. Despite the issues though, the Rockets, basketball wise, would be an amazing fit for LeBron. They're statistically the best three-point shooting team in history, with guys like Eric Gordon, Harden, and Paul all being elite shooters. They also have Clint Capello, who's the scrappy, athletic, defensive-minded center that LeBron's always wanted but has never had. I mean, the closest thing he's ever had to Capello was Birdman, and Birdman got boomed on on the day. And don't get me started on Mozgov. Even though it seems Harden, Paul, and LeBron would all need the ball in their hands, LeBron has publicly said that he wants to, quote, play off the ball, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue, especially with how willing all three of those guys are to pass the ball. I think Houston is one of the best options for LeBron, and I think if he was willing to take that small pay cut, he would choose Houston over Boston or San Antonio. Hell, they were an injury away from beating the Warriors already without LeBron. If the king wants rings, he can get them in Houston. Now, we finally get to the teams that actually have cap space to sign LeBron. Let's start with the Lakers. Now, a lot of people, especially the guys on national media, act like LA is LeBron's number one option. But when anybody asks them why, it seems like they always just say, because it's LA. I'm just gonna say it. There is absolutely no way LeBron goes to a team just because of the city. Obviously, LA is the center of entertainment, and I get that LeBron has a house there and lives there during the summer, but it's not like these other cities that he's considering are Sacramento and Kansas City. He's looking at Boston, Philly, Houston. These are huge markets in their own right, so forget the cities for a second. When you look at all the teams LeBron is considering, the Lakers are the only team that don't even have another star on their team. Sure, they have the cap room to sign another star along with LeBron, but that's also an uncertainty, which has to be considered. Even if the Lakers were to sign Paul George or Boogie Cousins to pair with LeBron, that team, in my opinion, would still not be nearly good enough to beat the Warriors, which is the real goal here. I also think that, of the three teams with legit young talent, Boston, LA, and Philly, the Lakers young group is probably the worst. Don't get me wrong, they have talent there, and that team with George or Cousins would be a very good team. Overall, I think LA is totally overrated as a destination for LeBron, and is less likely than Houston, Boston, and our final team, Philly. Philadelphia, like LA, has enough cap room to sign LeBron to a max deal, and are also the second largest media market on LeBron's list, ranking number four in the whole country. Philly is also not lacking in talent, at all, with two of the best young players in the league in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who have already gained some playoff experience on their own after leading the Sixers to the third seed in the East last year. So, right out of the gate, the 76ers quickly seem to check off all three boxes with ease. With that being said, Philadelphia, no doubt, still has its downsides as a destination. For one, many have questioned the fit on the court with Simmons and LeBron, who have extremely similar games. I mean, let's just keep it a buck. Simmons is pretty much LeBron with no jumping. So, I think that dynamic would definitely not work out right from the start. Again, though, LeBron did say he wanted to play off the ball, and LeBron has developed into a much better shooter than he used to. Also, the rest of the Sixers roster is full of knockdown shooters, like JJ Redick, Marco Bellinelli, and Robert Covington to keep the floor from being too clogged up. While LeBron and Simmons don't seem to be a great fit, LeBron and Embiid would appear to be dominant. Embiid, who was selected to the all-defensive team after this season, brings the same defensive edge that a guy like Capella could bring. And he would also serve as the best post-scoring big LeBron has ever played with, by far. Of course, with Embiid, there will always be injury concerns, and Markel Fultz is a wild card for now. Not to mention the fact that the 76ers pretty much don't have a general manager anymore after their old one, Brian Colangelo, started using them Twitter fingers. That, of course, could hurt their chances of landing the King. Overall, though, a lot of people have begun to see the Sixers as the frontrunners to land LeBron, and I would probably agree. If I had to bet on it, I would put my money on either Philly or Houston. That's all I got for this one, guys. If you're new, think about hitting that subscribe button. We're going hard this summer, so stay on the lookout. Thanks, guys. I'm out.