It is NBA Finals season, but that doesn’t mean the speculation about the summer will stop. Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is making his eighth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, but he is an unrestricted free agent this offseason and many believe he will be leaving Cleveland.
If he does leave, two potential landing spots that have been discussed a lot are the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. Both are young, up-and-coming teams with a lot of salary cap space.
Many have pointed to the Lakers being the favorite to land James in free agency, but Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard disagrees. In an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Broussard outlined why he believes James will go to Philadelphia:
“I see Philadelphia as the spot. Nothing changed for me the last few weeks. Once I was told by people close to LeBron that he wants to play off the ball, if he has a teammate who can make plays for other guys, that’s Ben Simmons. It’s a no-brainer. Stay in the East.”
One thing that undoubtedly makes sense for James if he wants to continue his amazing streak of NBA Finals appearances is to stay in the Eastern Conference, which is not nearly as deep as the West. The Sixers already had the third-best record in the conference this season and Simmons and Joel Embiid are two rising stars for James to team up with.
As for the Lakers, they do have their own player who can make plays for others in Lonzo Ball. Along with Ball, Brandon Ingram has shown off his abilities as a primary playmaker.
Heading into free agency, the Sixers are ahead of the Lakers in their rebuilding process which could appeal to James, but no one knows exactly what will happen once the summer begins.
As part of our efforts to help you understand how we handle the personal information you share with us, and in preparation for the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we’ve updated our Privacy & Cookies Policy. The updated Privacy & Cookies Policy will take effect on May 22, 2018. By using our services on or after that date, you’ll be agreeing to our updated Privacy & Cookies Policy. We recommend that you read our updated Privacy & Cookies Policy in full.
