LeBron's Next Team: Who Makes the Most Sense? | Schein Time

Josh Hart's tweet gives us a perfect transition to my Knicks. And in case you missed it, Clutch Sports CEO and founder Rich Paul did a segment on his outstanding show with my guy Max Kellerman, Game Over, where he used a whiteboard to break down just about every single landing spot for his client and great friend LeBron James. And that included the Knicks, who, by the way, have added Andre Drummond. I like it. Under the circumstance to replace Mitchell Robinson. Listen, not the same in terms of defense, but Drummond is a terrific offensive rebounder. Thought that was an excellent move. And how about this from the post-staff bonding? Jalen Brunson played through the finals with Pretty impressive when you consider it. Anyway, take a listen to Rich Paul. I think it's difficult, right? Because the last thing you want to do is mess up something like that. Like the Knicks has a good thing going. You know, that'll be... If the Knicks hadn't won, there would be no bull. He'd be going to the Knicks. He'd be going to the Knicks. Jalen Brunson would literally have to pick up the phone and say, hey man, it's no issue with me. It's no issue with me. Balls in your... And I'm not saying that that would, that would, I'm not saying that that would make him make this decision. But at least it would put him on the table. Yeah, because, because you got to respect that. Have the Knicks call? Yeah. Knicks checked in? So I didn't like this. I didn't like any of this. Look, I can't believe, and good for Rich Paul and Max Kellerman. They are turning LeBron's free agency in the summer of LeBron 2026 into a terrific episode of Game Over. It is officially a podcast, right? And as someone who still writes notes on a notepad and sits on a long notepad, I can appreciate a great whiteboard and I can appreciate something like this and fleshing it out. But to say out loud that LeBron would be going to the Knicks if they had not won, I find that to be absurd. First of all, do we know that the Knicks would want him? I'm being dead serious here. Let's say the Knicks lost in the NBA finals. Let's say San Antonio beat them. Not crazy. They were heavily favored. They were favored to win. They were favored by five and a half points to win game number five. So they wouldn't just run it back? They would just sign LeBron James? The whole second apron conversation wouldn't exist? You know, it does take two to tango here. I think that for Rich Paul to say that is, well, rich. Because unless he knows for a fact that James Dolan and Leon Rose and Mike Brown, who coached LeBron, obviously, that they would have 100% signed LeBron James and Jalen Brunson would have given a big thumbs up on that. I've got a big issue with that. Also, what does a championship have to do with this? Seriously. And listen, I love LeBron James. I think LeBron James is sensational. I would love LeBron James on my Knicks. But in theory, if LeBron wanted to take his name and his game and his legacy to a different level, he would sign with the Knicks. No one has them favored. They're not in Vegas right now. They're not even in the Eastern Conference to win another championship, to win the Eastern Conference. So why don't you do it, Rich Paul? I think he's just saying this to get a reaction. I don't think he knows that Leon Rose or James Dolan would even want LeBron James. Also, LeBron could have picked the Knicks, albeit under different circumstances, albeit with different management, different kind of situation at different times in his career. Of course, we all know about the ill-fated decision, which was done a stone's throw from Madison Square Garden. A lot of smart people thought he was going to New York. Instead, he took his talent to South Beach. So I think this is kind of hypothetical, absurd, look-at-me nonsense. This, of all the things that he said during this incredible edition of the Game Over podcast and turning the summer of LeBron into a literal game and podcast episode, where you have to kind of go through the whiteboard that we're going to and see exactly what the hell Rich Paul means, this bothered me. This is the one that I said, I don't think he's telling the truth. Oh, I don't think he knows. Please, go side with the Knicks. You call Jaylen Bronson. This one bothered me. As a Knicks fan, there's history. It's loaded, layered. Come on. Now, Paul might have made his strongest case for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but it had less to do with the roster and more to do with the key LeBron connection. Now, let's go up here to the C-10. Mitchell, Harden, Mobley, Allen, Dan and Grant, which is the Gilberts, plus Kobe. He was there when LeBron won there. Big, big, big X-Factor. Let me talk to you about Brandon Weems. Brandon Weems is basically LeBron's brother. That is a big feather in the cap. Big feather. Big feather because of Brandon Weems. Now, don't get me wrong. Dan and Grant and Kobe, we know them. I miss my guy, Nick Gilbert. I can only imagine what Nick Gilbert would be saying to me right now. Talk about the best guy to talk to. The best. Now, negative is, and this is no offense to Harden, no Garland, because he loves Garland like he loves Max. Garland, by the way, a clutch client. So, I don't consider that to be a negative when it says no Garland. I just think that's Rich Paul being a little bit grand here with some clutch clients and trying to ultimately be a little rich. Also, speaking of rich, they maxed out the Cavs did today. Sham Sharani broke the story. Donovan Mitchell got a max contract, four years, well over $250 million. Phenomenal for Donovan Mitchell. You know I love Donovan Mitchell. Worth every single penny. So, this, in listening to what Rich Paul had to say, and also the fact that the Cavs were originally number two on my list behind Golden State when LeBron and the Lakers had their parting of ways, I really think right now that we are looking at the Cavs as the leaders in the clubhouse. They were number two for me behind Golden State originally. Today, after watching on Netflix the Rich Paul Max Kellerman pod, and going through this, and LeBron, and everything that he said about the Gilbert family, and Weems, Weems is someone you have to take into account. Because look, that's LeBron's guy. And if Rich Paul's going to call him family, we need to take that into account. So, today, based upon this, if you're asking me, and you are, it's literally my job, where I think LeBron James is most likely to sign, I think it's going to be Cleveland. I also think if it's going to be Cleveland, it'll be shorter term in the process. I think the longer it goes means he's considering other options on the board. There was a thought process this weekend that we would know who would win the World Cup before we know whether, where LeBron James is going to play basketball this year. If it's Cleveland, wouldn't it make sense that it was this week? Just something to ponder here when you start thinking about the summer of LeBron. Then we have the 76ers who entered the chats after trading for Jalen Brown in a move that shocked the NBA world. Philadelphia, everything changed. Do they have his attention as Windhorst is reporting? How could you not have the attention when you have Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, and B? They're missing, all they really need here is a power forward who can think the game and shoot. That's why he's in the middle. Think about it. He loves Max, so we don't even have to talk about it. I think Vijay, he helps Vijay understand really how to play the game. Vijay's a baby and he's already good. Super talented, plays both ends of the floor, plays hard every night. The benefit that he gets, it would be ridiculous. Obviously, Jalen Brown, right? MB is health and habits. If the health and habits of MB are there, but what I mean is they need a guy to come in and make that. That by itself doesn't necessarily work, but if you add the right guy, LeBron James is the one guy who might be able to unlock that and get that to be a team. He enhances everything. He unlocks everything. So I've got a full page of my scribble just based on what he had to say about Philadelphia. And I think that listening to Rich Paul and the follow-up questions from Max Kellerman, which was absolutely brilliant. I love our guy, Max. And you see, Maxey has the star, right? And I'm obsessed with Maxey. I think he's one of the best players in the entire league. He's everything right with sports. Obviously, when you talk about his intelligence and his energy and how he's a freight train, but he's always in control, Maxey to me is a huge part of this. Everything that Rich Paul and Max Kellerman said about VJ Edgecombe, I agree with and I've said before, and VJ is not one of their clients. Brown is terrific. Then they even got into the negatives here on Joel Embiid. And I thought that was pretty significant because you know, I'm not a Joel Embiid fan. You put LeBron in the middle of this and if he could bring a championship to Philadelphia, man, that'd be incredible. You think about the process. The process to me is fake. Sam Hinckley was the most overrated executive in the history of sports. Should've never got another job after that. Then you had Daryl Morey. That was a mess. If you put LeBron right smack damn in the middle right here, that team wins a championship. No hesitation. You know, that's not what I want as a Knicks fan. But yes, the fact that Rich Paul and Kellerman dove as deep as they did into Philly and used those words and even the reference and Kellerman mentioned it with Brian Windhorst and the attention, that makes sense. I think that Philly is absolutely in the conversation and a real possibility when it comes to LeBron James and his next destination. Could LeBron team with Nikola Jokic in the Mile High City? Here's what Rich Paul had to say about that. Let's get over here to the Mile High, right? Murray, Johnson, Gordon, Jokic. They got one big hurdle. They still got Peyton Watson, who's a restricted three agent, right? Kroenke family, we're close to. So ownership. He's got the Midas touch too, Kroenke. He's won in everything. Is Denver actually a legitimate destination? It wouldn't be on the board. Okay. So here's what's interesting. Kroenke, of all the things that were said about Denver, first of all, the inclusion of Denver to me is noteworthy because I would not have put Denver on the list in terms of somewhere I would think LeBron would want to go basketball wise. Buckle up. The Nuggets would make a lot of sense. Jokic and LeBron playing together, they wouldn't even need a training camp. We're talking about two of the smartest ballplayers in the last 50 years in the NBA. It's the Kroenke piece, okay? And obviously, Kroenke is a phenomenal sports owner. LeBron knows him incredibly well from Los Angeles. Obviously, Kroenke not only runs and owns the Denver Nuggets, owns and runs the LA Rams. So the fact that he listed these four names, went through it, included it, didn't put him on the outskirts here of this diagram, I thought was a big deal, but I want to make a big deal about this, okay? We'll get into a couple other coaches and executives and owners on this board who were not mentioned, and I thought that was noteworthy. The inclusion of Kroenke to me is a huge deal. Now, I never thought I would be saying this about the Minnesota Timberwolves as a destination for King James. Let's get to Minnesota, if you want to win. You got Ant, you got LeMelo. You remember when Ant said, it's okay, we got Jay McDaniel. So it's okay because we got Jay McDaniel. And then you have Gobert, plus Tim Conley and that ownership group. So what I love here is A, that they were included. And it's not like they were on the outskirts somewhere. They put Minnesota right under James's name. That to me is noteworthy. Nothing on this board clearly was done by accident. And I love Kellerman's reaction with Ant and Melo. I mean, again, Carmelo Anthony is always going to be Melo. We're talking about LeMelo Ball here. But Ant and Melo and McDaniel and Gobert. LeBron James on this team, not only as a player, but as a leader for someone like LeMelo Ball and even for Ant, this team wins the West. This team could beat OKC. This team could beat San Antonio. Because I think they're dangerously close. You put James on this squad and LeBron has always been. Now people assume this will be his final year. I'm not convinced. LeBron's talked about this in the past, right? Give him two years. You give him two years in Minnesota, I think Minnesota can get over the hump. And considering the Timberwolves have never won a championship before, obviously that would be amazing for the long-suffering fans here at the Timberwolves. Now here's what I really want to get to because this was a big deal. Maybe in my opinion, the most surprising thing was how Rich Paul literally on this board had the Warriors pushed and positioned to the outside looking in when it came to his whiteboard. Because there have been so many reports that Golden State was the favorite to land them. Here's what Rich said. You see Steph and Dre up there. Don't forget about Steph and Dre. Here's what's crazy. Okay, so this tells me a lot. This doesn't tell you anything. You're playing four-dimensional chess right now? Or you just tipped your hand? No. I will say why. All I'm doing is showing you the board. Silence everyone, I will say why. Ready? Go ahead. Everyone's reporting and I know you say, what do they know? It's Cleveland or Golden State. Golden State was the big one. But you of all these things, you just have this Golden State up in the corner. So either you're doing that purposely to throw us off the scent or Golden State really is not as much of a front-runner as people think or not as much in the lead as people think. You can think whatever you think. This is just my board. You decide what you want to think. So this is where I really want to get into the white board because we've got LeBron James here and we've got these teams here and we've got Steph and Draymond here. Not a single mention, by the way, of Steve Kerr. Not a single mention of ownership. This to me is noteworthy. Then today, you have the report from Anthony Slater over at ESPN. The Warriors don't think they're going to get them. So when James and the Lakers had the parting of ways, this was my number one. Cleveland was my number two. And it's interesting where these two teams are on the old white board. So all of a sudden, you see in chronological order, you see LeBron leave LA. There are the reports that Golden State's the favorite. Golden State wants to land Anthony Davis. We talk about it on Shine Time how Anthony Davis should not leave the Washington Wizards. It doesn't benefit Washington. Then you see this board and you have Steph and you have Dray on the other side. Barely even a mention. Didn't even spend too much time on it. Ownership is not a factor. The Hall of Fame coach is not a factor. And the fact that they're over here, noteworthy to me. If I'm a Warriors fan or a basketball fan like me, and I keep talking about at the end of the day, the fact that I wanted this LeBron going here to Steph and Dray because I wanted fun. Who do I root for? I root for me. I wanted to see Steph and LeBron doing the night night together. Watching the game over pod, looking at where you see them on the white board. That's not it. That's not what I'm looking for here. So that to me is problematic. And if I'm a Warriors fan in conjunction with today's ESPN report, color me concerned. Then of course you have the Miami Heat. Now they did appear in the main circle, but Rich Paul did not have a whole lot to say about that. Now you go down south. Mitchell, Wiggins, Giannis, Bam. Plus Pat, plus Spoh. So if I'm a Heat fan, I'm concerned. And I told you when it came to Miami and there was enough smoke where I was like, eh, I'll throw it into the discussion. But really they're not a team that's mentioned or featured or discussed. I mean, he didn't say anything. He didn't take notes on it. They didn't spend any time on it. And I still maintain this all goes back to Riley and it goes back to James and the fact that they had a bad breakup. He was there for four years. LeBron lived up to his end of the bargain. Won a couple of chips. The two years he didn't win a championship, made the NBA finals. Pat Riley is stubborn. You can't rule it out because it's still Spolstra. It's still Miami. It's still Giannis. I don't think it makes basketball sense. I don't think, you know, Cleveland, the return makes sense. You can always sell Cleveland if you're LeBron James. Always. It's home, final two years, kid from Akron. If he takes Donovan Mitchell to the finals, takes Cleveland to another championship, that's fantastic. That's tremendous. Takes Miami, it's the old shoulder shrug. No one's going to get too excited about that. So that, I think that Rich Paul told you everything you need to know about Miami based upon what transpired and where he put them, the lack of putting them on the board and everything that goes into the mix. I mean, look at this board, right? Miami is, it's like part of the dry erase situation. That's not what you want here. Mitchell, Wiggins, Giannis, it doesn't do much for them. See, if he goes to Philly, that's a championship team. He goes to the Knicks, that's a championship team, and he's not. Goes to Cleveland, they can get over the hump. They can win the Eastern Conference. Obviously, it'd be a really nice fit from a Miami standpoint. For LeBron, doesn't do anything. I'll tell you the team that I was surprised by, the Mavericks. Now, they're not on the inner circle here, but Rich Paul had a lot to say about the advantages they have, which almost have nothing to do with basketball. Dallas and Maasai. Now, in Dallas, they got oil, they got golf, you got Macau and the Sands group, and then with Maasai, you got the whole continent of Africa. A lot comes with Dallas and Maasai. So, here's what's interesting about Dallas, right? Because he literally writes oil, golf. I mean, it's crazy. Maasai, who's an unbelievable executive. Obviously, we know about Cooper Flagg. Obviously, we know about Dusty May. The fact that he included these guys and some tangibles and intangibles, but didn't include that with Golden State, he's not going to Dallas. I would be absolutely floored. The inclusion is not just interesting if you're a Mavericks fan, it's noteworthy in a negative way if you're a fan of the Golden State Warriors. That's something that would concern me. Then you have the Spurs, and listen, this is what we have for the Spurs. No Wemby, nothing. Rich Paul had next to nothing to say about that. Now, obviously, it is the game over pod, and it could be game on at any single time when it comes to Rich Paul, right? But Rich Paul is, I think he's a supremely bright guy. This goes back to my original take on the San Antonio Spurs. I think Paul and LeBron could sell any of these teams. Any of these teams, except the Spurs. Except the Spurs. I don't think Miami does anything for LeBron. The Spurs, they could win a championship this upcoming year without LeBron James. No one bats an eye. They're literally the favorite today as we speak to win a championship. If they win with LeBron, he's going to get killed. If they lose with LeBron, LeBron's going to get killed. LeBron won't get killed in the court of public opinion on any of these teams, with the exception of the San Antonio Spurs. So that's something to keep in mind. And again, looking at the whiteboard, the diagram, understanding the game over pod, I don't think he's going to the San Antonio Spurs, which is what I said originally here on Shine Time. Last but not least, we also have the Boston Celtics, who appear on the fringes of the board. Not much was said about them, and they do not appear to be a likely landing spot. Big reason for that? Well, they no longer have Jalen Brown, which Brad Stevens discussed yesterday. The path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied in between players. And the reality in this era and in this day and age at the NBA, you could see it obviously with the last couple of champions and some of the teams that were at the very top of the league when it was all said and done at the end of this year, is that you have to do a great job and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. I've lost sleep over the fan part of this. I get it. There's a bunch of seven jerseys around. I'm pretty sure I bought a couple. So, I get it. First of all, let's just say it went noted that he put Brad and Tatum on. That was almost like it was Rich Paul's way of just reminding people that Brad Stevens, in his mind, as a high-powered agent, is still one of the best in the business. Jason Tatum, still a superstar. Now, I give Brad Stevens credits because yesterday was the first day that deals were officially legal and the first opportunity he had to speak to the news media, he spoke. That's a great job by Brad Stevens. He didn't run from anything. They also had one of the owners up there, made sure everyone knew it's not a financial situation in Boston. Brad Stevens, Jason Tatum, LeBron James. It's not happening. I was stunned that he put these guys on there. I think that's calculated on the part of Rich Paul as a way to give Brad Stevens some love. I don't think there's any question about that. Stevens, yesterday, painted another picture of nothing. Word salad. Reporters in Boston, I thought, did an unbelievable job asking Stevens, well, you know, is this a spot or a situation where the team is going to be better? He said, we'll find out. He likes Paul George. He trades Jalen Brown. Let me tell you all, everything that this was code for at the end of the day. The only thing that this was code for was we had to trade Jalen Brown. He can't say we traded him because of his Twitch stream. He can't say we traded him because the team blew a 3-1 lead against Philadelphia. And, you know, he felt like he had to get rid of him because he called in, Brown didn't season up his life. I mean, otherwise, at the end of the day, they would have never traded Jalen Brown, but Brown put him in a position where they had to trade him. Now, having to trade him and trading him to Philly in the division to an Eastern Conference foe and giving Philadelphia a real shot, even with Joel Embiid, who's a losing ball player, a real shot to win a championship, that's a different story. Trading him is one thing. This atrocious deal, that's one of the worst deals I've ever seen. And I have historically, we go back to Butler. I love Brad Stevens. I think he's remarkable. That trade remains the theater of the absurd.