The Philadelphia 76ers are not looking like favorites to land LeBron James at the moment. After reports recently surfaced that James himself will not be present in the meeting between the two camps, it initially appeared that the said meeting would be nothing more than a last minute, last ditch effort by the 76ers to keep themselves in the running to acquire the services of James.
According to Sixers' reporter Jon Johnson, the sit-down was not originally scheduled to take place until recently. This likely explains why there were no prior reports pertaining to this meeting beforehand.
Per source, Sixers meeting with Lebron was not originally planned.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) July 1, 2018
Based on these news bits, it appears that James and his people do not consider Philadelphia as their top priority. Had this been the case, then perhaps the meeting would have been scheduled way ahead of time, giving both camps ample time to prepare for the negotiations.
But then again, with all that is going on right now, James would not have given the 76ers the time of day if he did not consider Philly as one of his potential landing grounds. This confirms reports that the 33-year-old is indeed attracted to the prospect of playing alongside a young and talented core led by Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
Until James makes his decision public, it would be foolish to rule out the 76ers. Even Wojnarowski himself claims that Philadelphia are still in the running, despite the L.A. Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers being the two teams most likely to sign the three-time NBA Champion.