LeBron James is officially a Los Angeles Laker, which means any plans of other teams to acquire the four-time MVP has now already been snuffed out completely.
According to Josh Harris, a managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, he believed that James and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, were closer to joining the Sixers than what most people thought, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“I think they considered us very strongly,” Harris said of James' group on Monday at the Las Vegas Summer League. “I think he — I would be speculating on how he makes his decisions, and I don't want to do that — but I think that they were really serious [about Philadelphia]. The fact that they took the meeting with us was something that they didn't view lightly, so I think that they were very serious about it.”
Had James opted to start the new chapter of his legendary basketball career in the City of Brotherly Love, he would be teaming up with an arguably better crop of young talents than what he’s going to work with in Los Angeles. While Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, and Lonzo Ball are all promising, albeit in varying degrees, the Sixers’ tandem of Joel Embiid and recently-crowned Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons is perceived to be closer to becoming superstars in the league than any of the Lakers’ youngsters.
In the end, LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland and the Eastern Conference altogether by signing a monster four-year deal with the Lakers worth $153 million this summer.
If anything, seeing James pack his bags for the Western Conference gives the Sixers and the rest of the East a reason to let out a collective sigh of relief.
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