Category: Sports News

Future NBA Hall of Famer LeBron James choosing the Philadelphia 76ers did more than shock the NBA. According to Dan Le Batard, it left people around the Miami Heat furious, confused and searching for an explanation.

Speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show, the longtime Miami broadcaster said he began receiving messages questioning how the 76ers convinced James to accept a two-year, $8 million contract—roughly half of what Miami was reportedly prepared to offer.

“The Heat are curious how it is that the Sixers did this,” Le Batard said, before suggesting Pablo Torre, famed investigative sports journalist, should start digging.

Then came the conspiracy theory.

Le Batard pointed toward Michael Rubin, the Fanatics CEO and former minority owner of the 76ers who remains close with Joel Embiid. Rubin sold his stake in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment in 2022, citing potential conflicts involving Fanatics’ expanding business in merchandise, trading cards and sports betting.

Le Batard wondered aloud whether James’ arrival could provide enormous value surrounding a potential farewell tour. James was a key speaker at Fanatics Fest NYC earlier this month.

There is currently no reported evidence that Rubin or Fanatics provided James with any improper financial incentive. The theory was speculation, fueled largely by surprise that James accepted such a small contract and chose a team built around Embiid’s notoriously uncertain health.

Philadelphia’s official recruiting effort was extensive enough without any shadowy assistance.

ESPN reported that team president Mike Gansey remained in constant communication with James’ agent, Rich Paul, while Tyrese Maxey, Embiid and Jaylen Brown all contacted James directly. Maxey, who is also represented by Klutch Sports, reportedly played a particularly aggressive role.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro even joined the sales pitch after encountering James at a private New York club.

The lobbying worked. James chose Philadelphia over Miami, Cleveland, Golden State and Minnesota, giving the Sixers a loaded core featuring Maxey, Brown, Embiid and V.J. Edgecombe.

Miami apparently wants to know the exact details about how Philadelphia ultimately closed the deal.

Le Batard has supplied one very dramatic possibility.

Whether there is anything behind it—or it is simply South Florida struggling to accept rejection—is another matter.

The Houston Rockets continue to fill out their roster before the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season, as it was announced today that they have signed free agent forward/center Oscar Tshiebwe.

The 6’8” big man from the Congo went to high school in Pennsylvania and was a four-star recruit heading into college. He played for both West Virginia University and later Kentucky, where he was named the Sporting News National Player of the Year and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 2022.

He went undrafted but later signed two-way deals with the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz. His best season in the NBA came in the 2024-2025 season, when he averaged 7.6 points and 8.7 boards in 18.2 minutes per night for Utah.

He’s also been a monster in the G League, averaging 15.4 points and 17.3 rebounds across 64 G League games. Those are some serious rebounding numbers at that level.

He’s obviously great on the boards, fitting in the Ime Udoka mold, as well as a rugged defender and a strong inside finisher, however, he is more of a traditional big man than a modern one, in that he doesn’t shoot threes and has limited switching ability onto perimeter players.

The terms of Tshiebwe’s contract have not yet been released, but it could be a two-way or exhibit 10, which gives the Rockets the chance to convert his contract to a standard one.

And it seems that he could be on board as Steven Adams insurance. Adams was Houston’s best rebounder last season and one of the keys to their second-chance offensive philosophy (if you can call it that), and when he went down, the team suffered in multiple ways. And then it appeared that Clint Capela was no longer able to fill that role for an extended period. Tshiebwe could also be a replacement for Clint Capela. Now Capela signed a three-year, fully-guaranteed deal before last season, but the team could include him in trade talks if they are looking to move on from Capela.

Either way, this player is an Ime guy through and through, and I’ll let you all decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Welcome aboard.

This is going to take some getting used to. Typing out that headline, it still didn’t feel real. LeBron James is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. It goes without saying that the entire Philadelphia region has been in a state of celebration since the news broke. Here are some of the best reactions to the Sixers signing one of the best players of all time.

Tyrese Maxey, also a Rich Paul client, could barely contain himself on his Instagram story. He captioned the video of his celebration, “I feel like Coach Cal,” in reference to his college coach John Calipari. It’s an appropriate feeling for Maxey, who was very involved in the recruiting process, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

VJ Edgecombe celebrated by recreating a famous LeBron meme. Like so many Sixers fans, he is smiling through it all and can’t believe this is his life. Jabari Walker didn’t exactly recreate it, but he had a similar reaction. Jaylen Brown once again tweeted #ThrowTheBallUp, which will surely be printed on a gazillion T-Shirts between now and the start of the season.

Dominick Barlow was out golfing when he heard the news of James’ decision, which is fitting since how good the golf scene was in each city did reportedly play a factor in where LeBron would go. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has already invited LeBron out for a round.

July 24 has already been declared LeBron James Day in the state of Pennsylvania according to governor Josh Shapiro. He had a certificate and everything ready to be posted within minutes of James’ signing being reported. Septa also tweeted that “B is for Bron,” so we’ll have to see if the Broad Street Line officially gets renamed.

Meanwhile, the Queen of Philadelphia, South Carolina Women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley tweeted out a video in celebration. The fact that she could rock a black LeBron James jersey on the sideline is a real possibility now. What a world.

Plenty of ex-Philly athletes or personalities have chimed in as well, from Torrey Smith to Darius Slay to Andre Drummond. Not only did former commentator Marc Zumoff dust off one of his trademark catchphrases, but the movement to try to bring Matt Cord out of retirement has already started.

It would be really cool if this isn’t the only time we hear Cord’s LeBron introduction.

One of the biggest victory laps for this signing should go to Mike Gansey’s brother, Steve. He had tweeted a picture of Gansey and James together in High School the day the Sixers traded for Jaylen Brown, one of the first things to fuel LeBron to Philly rumors this offseason. Even as just the brother of the president of basketball operations, he is already getting offers for free drinks and statues in his replies.

As we settle into the post-Summer League world and prepare for the next couple of months, it’s time to fill the hours (and the pixelated pages) with speculation, analysis, over/under win-total discussions, and predictions. The Phoenix Suns, after a year in which they exceeded expectations, have given us plenty to ponder until October. From lineup combinations to developmental opportunities, there is much to hypothesize about.

I thought a good place to start would be extensions. Because that’s a fun topic, right? Future money and how it could affect future decisions. Projected salary caps, what will the luxury tax line be in 2029, and what will Khaman Malauch’s salary be in 2030? Oh my. Fun stuff!

Facetiousness aside, it’s something that I’ve continually found myself exploring, seeing as Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks are extension-eligible this offseason. Understanding the paths forward, given the interesting salary numbers both might incur, provides a clearer picture of the balancing act ahead. So why not build out the possibilities, see how they affect our short- and long-term cap sheet, and explore the decisions that lie ahead for the organization? The thought exercise sparks an interesting conversation relative to what you could do and what you should do.

This was the subject of this week’s Suns Reacts Survey, and the results are in. 40% of the community prefers the team offer an extension only to Dillon Brooks, and 30% believe no extensions should be provided to either Brooks or Bridges.

Now that the graphic has been made, it is time for a deep dive into this subject that deserves exploration.

None of what I am about to explore factors in Jalen Green, who becomes extension-eligible on October 1. That introduces an entirely different set of numbers into the equation, disrupting the ecosystem. We’ll cross that bridge when we get closer to it, hopefully with a better understanding of where the Suns’ long-term cap sheet stands based on whether Bridges or Brooks have received extensions by then.

To understand the full picture, we first need to look at where the Suns are today and project where the salary cap, luxury tax, and apron thresholds could be over the next several seasons.

Let’s start with the now. When you look at Phoenix’s five-year cap sheet, the team currently carries approximately $216.8 million in salary and is hard-capped at the second apron. Simply put, the Suns cannot exceed the $222 million second apron this season. The encouraging part is that the front office has operated astutely enough to preserve some flexibility, leaving roughly $5.2 million of room beneath that threshold if it’s needed during the season.

Now, let’s look to the future. One thing that’s difficult to project is how much the salary cap will increase from year to year. When the NBA’s new television deals entered the picture, the assumption was that the cap would rise at the maximum allowable rate of 10%. It increased only 6.7% from summer 2025 to 2026, rising at a much more conservative pace.

That’s one of the reasons the projected value of Devin Booker’s contract continues to fluctuate. People often say, “He’ll be making $75 million in 2029”, but that’s not how the contract works. He’ll earn 36% of whatever the salary cap is that season. If the $165 million cap established for the summer of 2026 were to compound annually at 6.7%, the cap would reach roughly $200.4 million by the 2029-30 season. That would put Booker’s salary at approximately $72.2 million. So there is no world in which he is making $75 million, and if he does, it means the Suns still have essentially the same wiggle room they have now, as he’s making 35.1% of the cap in 2026-27.

Sorry. Back on track. I had to sidetrack once again to remind people that, while the Booker extension appears massive on the surface, it’s all relative, mannnnnn. Whether the production meets the numbers is a different conversation.

One challenge is projecting these future numbers for this thought exercise, since we’re projecting how extensions will affect future cap sheets and decisions based on those cap sheets. Small changes in the cap have meaningful downstream effects, and those differences matter when you’re trying to forecast future payrolls.

For this exercise, we need to establish a baseline. I’ve opted to split the difference and project annual cap increases of 5%. That would place the salary cap at approximately $191 million in 2029-30, with Booker earning roughly $68.8 million that season. That’s the foundation we’ll use moving forward.

Projecting the first and second aprons from there becomes its own mathematical exercise. Those thresholds are derived from the luxury tax line, and the luxury tax formula is anything but simple. It incorporates leaguewide benefits, projected player compensation, escrow, and several other accounting adjustments. The NBA doesn’t publish a straightforward equation because of its complexity.

What we have seen over the past few seasons is the luxury tax line landing at roughly 21.5% above the salary cap. Using that as the baseline, here’s a reasonable projection for what the luxury tax, first apron, and second apron could look like over the next several seasons.

Why is that important? Because once we begin plugging potential Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks extensions into the cap sheet, we’ll get a much clearer picture of how they affect the Suns’ financial future. It gives us an idea of where Phoenix could ultimately land relative to the luxury tax and apron thresholds as the organization attempts to build a competitive roster across two different timelines.

One important distinction is that the contracts for Bridges and Brooks would not be tied to the salary cap the way Devin Booker’s is. Booker’s extension is based on a percentage of the cap. Bridges’ and Brooks’ extensions would instead be structured with fixed annual raises of either 5% or 8%, depending on the type of extension they sign.

In Bridges’ case, the Suns can offer only 5% annual raises if they extend him within six months of acquiring him. Once that six-month restriction expires, they can offer up to four years with 8% annual raises. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about what a Miles Bridges extension could look like. On the high end, if Phoenix were to extend him before January 13, the six-month anniversary of the trade, the maximum extension would be three years, $86.3 million.

When you plug that contract into the Suns’ five-year cap sheet, here’s what it looks like.

As you can see, the team sits at approximately $203.5 million in salary for next season, assuming the Suns exercise the team options on Khaman Maluach, Ryan Dunn, and Oso Ighodaro, and no major trades occur before then.

Based on our projections, that payroll would place Phoenix roughly $5 million below the luxury tax line and approximately $13 million below the first apron. At that point, the Suns would still have only 12 players under contract, leaving plenty of flexibility to continue filling out the roster. As the projections move into the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons, the overall payroll naturally declines because fewer players are under contract. So, on the surface, a Miles Bridges extension makes sense, both in the short term and potentially over the long term as well.

But here’s where things get tricky. The Dillon Brooks extension.

There’s no doubt that, if the shift in the culture and identity of the Phoenix Suns were an earthquake, Dillon Brooks would be the epicenter. What he brought to Phoenix last season was something few of us expected. Jalen Green arrived as the headline acquisition. The draft brought an influx of young talent. Dillon Brooks felt like an afterthought.

He quickly changed that perception. His hustle, grit, and aggressiveness came to define this team. For an organization with so many young players entering its ecosystem, he’s the ideal veteran to have in the locker room, teaching them and molding them to play the same brand of basketball. Phoenix Suns basketball.

But he’s also 30. If the Suns were to offer him the maximum extension available, he would be 34 when that contract expires. Brooks is eligible for the larger veteran extension, one that can begin at 140% of his current salary and include 8% annual raises. That puts the maximum value at approximately $125 million over four years.

So what does that look like when you plug it into the cap sheet?

And now we’ve arrived at the part of this thought exercise that becomes truly interesting. Because if the Phoenix Suns extend both Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks, using the maximum figures we’ve outlined, three years for Bridges and four years for Brooks, you begin to see why this becomes such an intriguing cap puzzle.

With two roster spots still unfilled on this hypothetical team next season, the Suns would already sit at approximately $231.3 million in payroll. Based on our projections, the second apron would be roughly $229.9 million. They’re already over it.

That immediately forces other decisions. Do you exercise Ryan Dunn’s team option, or do you save roughly $5 million by letting him walk? Does Luke Kennard exercise his $6.4 million player option, and if he does, does that contract suddenly feel expensive? That’s something we won’t know until we see him play this season.

That’s the short-term challenge. The long-term challenge is even more fascinating because the Suns are operating on two timelines. On one, you’re paying approximately $134.9 million in 2028-29 to Devin Booker, Miles Bridges, Dillon Brooks, and Collin Gillespie alone. At the same time, the next era of Suns basketball is beginning to arrive, and those extension decisions start coming into focus. Both Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming will enter the final year of their rookie contracts during the 2029 offseason.

If the Suns don’t extend them beforehand, both would be headed toward restricted free agency. Phoenix can negotiate an extension with Maluach as early as next summer, while Fleming becomes extension-eligible in the summer of 2028. Why the different timelines? Because they’re on different types of contracts. Maluach is on a rookie scale deal, meaning a maximum rookie extension would likely start at 25% of the salary cap. Using our projections, that would equate to roughly $47.8 million in 2029-30.

Add that figure to the approximately $172.7 million already committed to Booker, Bridges, Brooks, Gillespie, and Koa Peat, and the Suns would be carrying roughly $220.5 million in payroll. That still leaves them about $19.1 million below the projected first apron.

Fleming presents a different equation. As the 31st overall pick, he isn’t on a rookie scale contract. Instead, he signed a four-year second-round contract that runs through the 2028-29 season. If the Suns don’t extend him before then, he’ll become a restricted free agent. If they do extend him, the organization has much more flexibility because of the type of contract he signed coming into the league.

If Fleming develops into a quality rotation forward, a reasonable projection might be around $18 million annually. If he becomes a high-level starter, that number could easily climb into the $24 million range.

For this exercise, let’s use the $18 million projection. Now the Suns find themselves approximately $1.5 million below the projected first apron and roughly $13 million below the second apron. Here’s what that cap sheet would look like.

So what does all of this mean? What do we actually take away from it?

I think the first takeaway is that the Suns have to be incredibly responsible with how they approach extensions for Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks. Brian Gregory did a stellar job this offseason in acquiring players on what amounted to hometown discounts. Mark Williams, Collin Gillespie, and Jordan Goodwin all accepted contracts viewed as below-market value to remain in Phoenix.

There is optionality with Miles Bridges, both in what the Suns can offer and when they can offer it. If the Suns ultimately decide to extend Bridges (and I believe they probably will, given that they surrendered an unprotected 2033 first-round pick to acquire him), the contract needs to come in on the lower end of the range. The ripple effects extend well beyond the next couple of seasons. The same logic applies to Dillon Brooks. The length and number need to be calculated so as not to hinder future flexibility or negate the team’s ability to retain youth. Everything I’ve laid out here represents the most expensive outcome for Phoenix and the best possible financial outcome for the players. Reality will likely land somewhere in the middle.

Even so, all of these decisions have to be viewed alongside another one that is still approaching. Jalen Green. The Suns still have to decide whether to extend him, and that decision will come soon.

That’s really what this thought exercise comes down to. Short-term versus long-term understanding of financial flexibility, viability, and responsibility. Do you invest heavily in the veterans who currently define your culture? Or do you preserve flexibility for the moment when 2030 arrives, the dead cap finally disappears, and Devin Booker’s contract potentially comes off the books as well? Or do you do both, knowing that depth is needed to achieve the ultimate goal of winning? Keep in mind that Booker becomes extension eligible again in the summer of 2028, another significant decision the front office will have to navigate.

Much of this will ultimately be determined by how these players perform, and it’s far too early to predict those outcomes. But today, right now, the extension decisions surrounding Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks could have ripple effects that extend well into the future. It’s reasonable and prudent to work through those scenarios in an effort to define who the Suns want to become, understand where they could be financially, and recognize how closely those two things are tied together.

Ultimately, this is the balancing act the Suns have created for themselves. They have built a roster with a clearer identity, but maintaining that identity will require discipline. The next few years won’t be defined by one massive decision, but by a series of smaller ones that determine whether Phoenix can sustain competitiveness while allowing its young core to grow. The numbers matter, but so does knowing which players are worth building around when the next window opens.

Now comes the fun part, at least for me. I’ve spent plenty of time analyzing the possibilities and laying out the different scenarios. But what would I do? How would I navigate this situation, and why?

I’ll start by saying I believe both players should receive extensions. The reason is simple. I’d rather have them as assets than risk losing them for nothing.

That is especially true in the case of Miles Bridges, considering the Suns surrendered a 2033 first-round pick to acquire him. If you don’t extend him, there’s a real chance that he leaves with nothing coming back in return. By extending him, you preserve optionality. Either Bridges produces at a high level and helps elevate the team, or you retain the flexibility to move him later if the right opportunity presents itself. From a long-term asset management standpoint, extending him makes sense.

The same logic applies to Dillon Brooks. The Suns didn’t surrender a first-round pick to acquire him, but his value extends well beyond the box score. He has established himself as a culture setter, elevating the competitiveness and professionalism of those around him. If the time ever comes to move on from Brooks, those qualities become part of his trade value. A young team with cap space looking for veteran leadership would have every reason to be interested.

The other reason I’d extend both players is that depth matters, especially for a team in the Suns’ current financial position. It’s difficult to build quality depth when you’re carrying significant dead cap. Yes, we all want to see the younger players receive more opportunities to develop. But that development has to happen responsibly.

If Bridges and Brooks aren’t extended, the young players won’t simply be stepping into their roles, they’ll be stepping into their minutes and responsibilities. And the bigger question becomes, who’s backing them up? Are you asking your entire youth movement to carry the load, hoping every one of those players develops into the kind of reliable rotation pieces that Bridges and Brooks already are? And what happens if they don’t? At that point, your depth is built primarily from veteran minimum contracts. Maybe you have access to a mid-level exception here and there, but that’s still a difficult way to build a complete roster.  

If you move on from Bridges and Brooks now, you’re placing an enormous amount of pressure on the shoulders of your young core before they’ve proven they’re ready for it. That’s a risky bet. And if they fail, the Suns fail. There’s no safety net. There’s no consolation prize. Phoenix doesn’t have a collection of lottery picks waiting to soften the blow over the next several years. The organization has to remain competitive while its young players develop, and veteran depth is a critical part of making that happen.

So my move would be to extend both Bridges and Brooks because of the optionality they provide.

The second part of the equation is the money. As noted above, I outlined what I consider the worst-case scenario from a salary-cap perspective. Those numbers are obviously the best-case scenario for Bridges and Brooks because they’re maximizing their earnings. But the Suns have to be smart and strategic. They need to offer contracts that reflect each player’s value while remaining fiscally responsible. Because if you operate at those maximum figures, you don’t leave yourself much flexibility on the margins.

With Bridges, I’d wait. Not until the full six-month mark, but long enough to see how he fits with the team. How does the chemistry look? How does he complement Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the rest of the roster? It’s difficult to hand out an extension based solely on what he accomplished in Charlotte. Context matters.

He spent the past few seasons on a Hornets team that was frequently without LaMelo Ball and consistently relying on young lottery picks. He wasn’t exactly operating in an environment built for success. So when people project his numbers forward, remember this will be the first time he’s played alongside talent like Booker, Green, and Brooks. He has experience with Mark Williams, but the rest of the situation is entirely different.

At some point, you’ll have to make a decision. I’d let the first couple months of the season play out, evaluate the fit, then try to negotiate a team-friendly three-year extension in the neighborhood of $75 million.

As for Brooks? I’d get it done now. There’s no reason to play games. We know exactly who he is. About 85% of the time, you love everything he brings to your team. The other 15% of the time, you’re asking yourself what in the world he was thinking. That’s the Dillon Brooks experience. Even with those occasional frustrating moments, he’s become the heartbeat of the Suns’ culture. Down the road, the organization may eventually decide to move on as the young players continue to develop, but that’s another reason to keep his contract reasonable. It should reward what he brings while remaining attractive to other teams if a trade ever becomes necessary.

Four years and $125 million feels like too much. Three years and $75 million feels much more appropriate for the player he is and the role he fills. That’s right, give him the same contract you would to Miles Bridges. It’d look like this:

If both of those scenarios play out, the Suns would save roughly $8 million in cap space during the 2029–30 season. That’s meaningful flexibility for a team trying to thread the needle between competing now and preparing for what’s next.

We’ll see how the Suns ultimately navigate this extension cycle, especially with Jalen Green’s future looming as another major financial decision. But that’s how I’d approach it.

None of these decisions exist in a vacuum. Every extension is really a bet on the next three or four years of the franchise, balancing today’s competitiveness against tomorrow’s flexibility. That’s why I’d prioritize optionality above everything else. Keep good players under contract. Preserve assets whenever possible. Avoid creating holes that are difficult to fill. The Suns don’t need to be perfect with every contract they hand out. They simply need to give themselves as many paths to success as possible, and that’s exactly what these extensions would accomplish.

LeBron James knew Mike Gansey before he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in NBA free agency.

The NBA's all-time leading scorer and the 76ers' new president of basketball operations go back decades — all the way back to their high school days in Northeast Ohio, when James and the future West Virginia standout initially emerged as regional basketball stars. They later crossed paths in the NBA during James' two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers before Gansey was hired by the Sixers to replace Daryl Morey this offseason.

How much that familiarity played into James picking Philadelphia remains a bit of a mystery, but the two are not strangers.

Here's a look at the longstanding connection in the aftermath of James deciding to join Gansey and the Philadelphia 76ers in NBA free agency:

LeBron James finally made up his mind. One of the best players in history will sign with the Philadelphia 76ers after taking a substantial amount of time exploring his options. The free agent do-it-all forward also considered the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, going by his announcement, but decided Philly was his best chance at competing for a championship.

James is not the best player in the world anymore, but the NBA was awaiting his decision to finalize free agency, which shows he’s culturally relevant. Despite his decline, he’s also still good enough to change the landscape of the league. With that in mind, let’s explore what his signing means for the Spurs.

LeBron wanted nothing to do with the still scarier Western Conference

There are probably multiple reasons why James picked Philadelphia. Unlike Cleveland and Miami, the Sixers had a glaring hole at power forward that James can plug immediately without having to worry about fit concerns, as he would have playing next to Giannis Antetokounmpo or Evan Mobley. As we learned from the infamous Rich Paul whiteboard podcast, he loves Tyrese Maxey. Even if Joel Embiid misses time, which is a given at this point, the addition of Jaylen Brown gives them enough firepower to survive the regular season and likely be a high seed.

There’s a lot to like about the on-court fit and the team’s chances to compete. Especially in the East.

Had he landed with the Cavaliers or Heat, it would have been unfair to suggest James’ decision had anything to do with the power imbalance of the conferences. After all, he has a history with both franchises. Nothing tied him to Philadelphia, however. Rich Paul also had the Timberwolves and Nuggets on his whiteboard, as well as the Warriors, but they were quickly dismissed as long shots as LeBron focused on the three finalists, despite all three Western teams also having top-tier talent and two of them having a more recent record of ultimate success than their Eastern counterparts.

Now, the Knicks won the championship by coming out of the East and only took a small step backwards. The Pistons could be as dangerous as they were last season if they bring back Jalen Duren, and the two teams LeBron spurned will also be tough outs. The Pacers could be back in contention now that Tyrese Haliburton is healthy, and the Celtics and Kawhi-led Raptors are dangerous. The conference is deep and talented. It also doesn’t have the Thunder and Spurs, arguably the top two teams heading into next season.

James going East to a team he had no previous ties to seems to confirm what any rational observer suspected: The West is still the tougher conference, and the Thunder and Spurs are the scariest opponents. If other stars feel that way going forward, we might see others also move East, where the path to the Finals feels more realistic.

LeBron signing for the minimum could start a trend that could help cash-strapped contenders

Because James waited so long, there were not a lot of realistic landing spots that could offer him a high-dollar amount. He expressed that he was fine with signing for the minimum with a contender, even though he’s still clearly good enough to command a higher salary under normal circumstances. He went through with it, signing a two-year minimum deal with a player option, giving the 76ers a major injection of talent for cheap.

In the era of the repeater tax and the second apron, getting quality players on below-market-value deals is a necessity to field a contender with depth. The best way to do so is to rely on players on rookie deals. The Thunder and the Spurs are doing exactly that. Still, it’s hard to know which young players are going to be ready to contribute in the playoffs. If veterans who can still play take a page out of LeBron’s book and are willing to sign for the minimum or close to it to contend, there would be another source of cheap, productive talent to fill out the rotations of the championship-level teams that struggle with the limiting rules of team-building the collective bargaining agreement has established.

Now, it’s important to note that LeBron is a special case. Very few players will reach age 41 while still being as productive as he still is, and none have made as much money over their career as James has. It’s not like LeBron was giving the Lakers discounts when he was 37. But the biggest star of the last 30 years, and founder of an agency known for always going for the max payout, removing the stigma of being a minimum player on a team that can give him minutes and the chance to contend, could lead others to make similar decisions. If LeBron’s decision results in success, maybe guys like Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler follow suit next offseason.

Would either of those guys, or others, as they age out, pick the Spurs? Who knows. It might feel like extreme ring chasing to join true contenders, but guys with a slightly lower pedigree could make the choice, helping bring depth to teams that are almost forced by the rules to sacrifice top-end salary for it.

After LeBron James announced that he was joining the Philadelphia 76ers, it’s clear that, once again, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader never had any serious interest in joining the Golden State Warriors.

James agreed to a two-year, $8M contract, with a player option in his second year. That is a dirt-cheap deal for a 41-year-old who was still good enough last season to lift a Los Angeles Lakers team missing both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to a first-round victory. He’ll join former MVP Joel Embiid, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, the No. 3 overall pick in 2025, VJ Edgecombe, and newly-acquired Jaylen Brown. Perhaps most important, he will not play with Paul George.

Did the Warriors ever have a chance to land James? The answer is, almost certainly not. Their pitch was essentially, come play with Steph Curry, with whome James won a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. Beyond that…golf? A short flight to Los Angeles? Getting to meet Apple’s Tim Cook?

The 76ers had a very active offseason, trading for Brown and adding forward Dean Wade, now likely a backup, and Anfernee Simons, a 38% career three-point shooter who averaged more than 20 points from 2022-24. The Warriors re-signed a number of injury-prone veterans from last year’s 37-win team and drafted Yaxel Lendeborg at No. 11. When Draymond Green opted out of his $27.7M player option for next season, the team used their added financial flexibility to do…pretty much nothing, beyond giving Al Horford and De’Anthony Melton small raises.

ESPN’s Anthony Slater summarized the underwhelming Warriors pitch:

The Warriors have a more limited roster and a tougher path to contention than other competitors…If James is still prioritizing a chase for a fifth ring, it was far more reasonable for him to look East rather than join an older core that enters the season hobbled and won only 37 games last season…Plus, they didn’t make an offseason trade to make it more appealing. LeBron decided elsewhere, and the Warriors have been under the belief it was trending that way for weeks.

Another reason to believe that James was never going to join the Warriors is that it’s not the first time he’s declined to do so. In February 2024, the Warriors called the Lakers about trading for James, only to have James’ agent, Rich Paul, tell them James wasn’t interested in being traded. In the summer of 2024, James declined his 2024-25 and became a free agent, only to resign with the Warriors. In the summer of 2025, he picked up his player option rather than become a free agent.

One cannot help but think of an important life lesson from Ron Livingston and the iconic women of “Sex And The City”: He’s just not that into you.

Joe Lacob needs to listen to Miranda here, when she learns the guy she’s seeing just isn’t that into her.

“This is the most liberating thing I’ve ever heard! Think of how much time and therapy [ed: and roster-building opportunities] I could have saved if I had known this!”

The Warriors have known for weeks that it was unlikely that James would choose their team. Still, they sat by the phone, crossing their fingers and blowing off phone calls from DeMar DeRozan and leaving NBA general managers on read. It’s possible that Mike Dunleavy, Junior’s offseason activity was primarily devoted to repeatedly writing “LBJ + MDJ” in his Lisa Frank notebook with a unicorn on the front and drawing hearts around it.

So now the Warriors’ attention will shift to bringing back Draymond Green, thus running it back with last year’s disappointing team. Hopefully, the team won’t be so bad that Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody decide to rehab all season rather than chase a play-in seed.

It’s just hard to believe that this was the Warriors’ master plan the whole time and that there were no opportunities better than waiting on LeBron James for four weeks. He just wasn’t that into the Warriors, and the team never made moves to make themselves more appealing.

So much for touring Malvern Prep.

One of the many side plots of LeBron James’ most recent free agency decision was whether his son, Bronny, would leave the Lakers in some way to join his father at his next stop. Hours after LeBron chose the Philadelphia 76ers, some reporting has come in on Bronny.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne has reported that “there’s no current plan or request” for Bronny James to join his dad on the Sixers. Shelburne also said that they are not a package deal.

It would have taken some sort of trade to get Bronny James out of LA. As Shelburne also pointed out, Bronny recently had his contract guaranteed by the Lakers, and is seemingly liked by the organization. He averaged just under nine minutes a game in the 42 games he appeared in for LA last season. He did get real minutes in Games 3 and 4 of their first-round series this past year against the Houston Rockets.

While Bronny might be a better NBA player than someone like Johni Broome, it was always going to be hard for him to break into the Sixers’ backcourt rotation that has become even more crowded. The best case scenario for him would have been the fifth guard behind Anfernee Simons and Labaron Philon Jr.

Things can change before the start of the regular season, but it doesn’t look like Philadelphia will be getting the full father-and-son experience. Instead of LeBron and LeBron Jr., they’ll just have to settle for LeBron and Labaron.