Ranking the 10 Most Interesting Scenarios for LeBron James Free Agency

LeBron James is going to make his Decision at some point in the next couple months. The path to getting there is already excruciating and it’s only going to get worse. The fact that I’m perpetuating that is not lost on me but here we are.

This list is not about what is most likely. Some of the circumstances, for one reason or another, aren’t even plausible. But as I scan the NBA, these are the 10 destinations that I think would be most interesting, either for basketball or off-court reasons or both:

10. Washington Wizards

This was a scenario that was broached by Michael Wilbon on Tony Kornheiser’s podcast earlier this week. The Washington Post transcribed:

"“You know what? This is the place to do this,” Wilbon said when prompted by Kornheiser to talk about the issue. “Suppose, given that there’s no perfect place out there, that in Philadelphia he’d turn Ben Simmons into a voyeur if LeBron goes there, he’s not going to go to Houston and suppose the Lakers are not exactly [thinking] they can challenge Golden State in the next two years, he’d be wasting some time there. So suppose we strike out those teams. He doesn’t want to deal with [Cavs owner] Dan Gilbert anymore, he doesn’t think Cleveland can be close to anything because Boston and Philly have eclipsed them. … “Suppose, given Lebron’s outspokenness, his engagement, his involvement, his engagement with what is going on nationally, culturally. Suppose he decides that the place he can do this best … and join two max players is the Washington Wizards.”"

This isn’t the worst basketball scenario; LeBron could join maybe any team in the East and at least reach the conference finals if on the other side of the draw from the Celtics (like, wouldn’t you bet on LeBron and the Magic over the Sixers or Raptors?).

Bradley Beal and John Wall have not been the most reliable superstars in the league but at least they hit about 37% of their threes this season, and ideally that would be higher if LeBron were creating more open ones for them. I dunno if this team is better than a fully healthy Celtics squad would be, but that’d be a fun series to watch.

1. Teaming with Durant

This is far and away the most interesting scenario for LeBron. I mentioned this idea last week as something I didn’t think would ever happen, but felt vindicated when Brian Windhorst later brought it up as something LeBron should try to do (note: he did not say this would happen) on an appearance on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

The ill-timed joke by Warriors GM Bob Myers at the championship parade that Stephen Curry deserved the max because he was there longer than Durant is probably nothing, but we know Durant is super sensitive and petty. What if LeBron were able to convince him that beating the Warriors is the only way he’d ever get the respect he sure appears to desire?

It doesn’t even matter what NBA team LeBron and Durant were to team up on. I think it could be any team in the league, even the Orlando Magic, and they’d be favored to beat the Warriors. It’s the two best players on the planet.

9. Toronto Raptors

Appearing on Tim Kawakami’s podcast, ESPN reporter Chris Haynes mentioned the Raptors as a darkhorse candidate to land LeBron. He may not be able to beat the Warriors there — if Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant have legs that are working he may not be able to beat them from anywhere except for number 1 on this list — but it would enhance his legacy in my book if he could take the team with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan that he’s been destroying for what feels like decades to the NBA Finals.

8. Staying with Cavs

This arguably shouldn’t be on the list because I’d rather spend two weeks straight in line at the DMV than watch a fifth straight Finals between them and the Warriors. THAT being said, I kinda like what Brian Windhorst coined the “organizational fatigue” part of the LeBron cycle in Cleveland. Petty wars with Dan Gilbert. Luxury tax hell. Aggressive social media passive aggression. The roster that would struggle to win 15 games without him. Rearranging deck chairs with other bad players. Relentless leaks. Squabbles with the media. Overt emotional resignation when he realizes won’t beat the team they’re playing by himself. It’d all be even better next season.

7. Milwaukee Bucks

Tom Haberstroh laughed and called me a homer when I brought this up on a recent podcast and there would be a lot of growing pains, but I remain convinced this a good idea for basketball and social reasons.

I get that LeBron and Giannis Antetokounmpo both need the ball in their hands a lot, but don’t we keep hearing about how actually LeBron wants to go somewhere that he doesn’t have to shoulder so much of the load and can rest his legs? And isn’t the Greek Freak more physically able to do that than anyone else in the NBA?

The Bucks’ cap space is a little tricky for this, and they’d probably have to get rid of either Eric Bledsoe or Khris Middleton to make my dream scenario work. (And even though keeping Middleton would probably be the more ideal basketball move here, LeBron is effectively Bledsoe’s agent via Klutch Sports so Idk.)

The Buck are opening a new arena. The city is hopefully undergoing a long and badly needed transition in how it polices people of color after the department was thoroughly embarrassed in the Sterling Brown situation and the Bucks’ ownership issued a scathing statement that I’m not sure how many other pro sports owners in America would write. LeBron could be a strong voice for change here. Maybe new minority owner Aaron Rodgers could try to help recruit him?

6. Lakers with Paul George or Chris Paul

This team doesn’t have the weapons to compete with the Warriors next year, but the Lakers have some good young talent in Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Lonzo Ball (who maybe LeBron would want to trade on account of his Dad, but is a truly gifted passer). It’s conceivable if the Warriors aren’t able to keep all of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green around that the LeBronkers could compete with them in 2019-2020?

If it were me, I wouldn’t pay max money to Paul George. I just don’t see him as being the second best player on a championship team. I wouldn’t give Chris Paul max money either, on account of his durability concerns. But if LeBron is going to go there he’s going to need another star right away, and it would also seem foolish for the Lakers to swap their young, inexpensive core for the mercurial Kawhi Leonard. And that’s if the Spurs would even do that.

It seems like everybody and their grandparents in Hollywood has been assured that this is going to happen, so it’s at a point where I’d be truly surprised if LeBron wound up anywhere else.

5. Houston Rockets

If this were a team with LeBron, Chris Paul, and James Harden, it would be the basketball manifestation of the “studs and duds” strategy employed by many in fantasy football auction drafts. The challenges to making the roster work under the cap have been well documented, but that type of wizardry is supposed to be Daryl Morey’s specialty.

As we said before CP3’s durability is a real glaring question mark, but this team would be sooooo much fun to watch on nights where they click.

4. Sixers

This is another place where there would definitely be growing pains. Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz aren’t great shooters, and there are concerns that the lovely Joel Embiid could get relegated into the shoot-from-the-corner role that LeBron imposed on Kevin Love and Chris Bosh. But, there would be a lot of upside there if they could figure it all out, and no matter what happened on the court it would all be very entertaining.

3. Celtics

This is the team that (besides number 1 on this list dun dun dun) would have the most legit shot at knocking off the Warriors next year. What a difference a year makes. Before the Draft last year, Danny Ainge’s legacy was being questioned in Boston for effectively trading Markelle Fultz for Jayson Tatum, and now this is a team you could look at and be like Do they even need LeBron? This team pushed the Cavs to seven with Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Terry Rozier. What will they look like with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward healthy?

The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjark’s wrote about LeBron’s “terrifyingly plausible path” to the Celtics, and there are many permutations of how it could happen and with which roster. The most interesting circumstance would involve reuniting with the eccentric Kyrie, who last summer forced his way out of the King’s orbit.

2. Sitting out for all or part of the season

I don’t qualify this as being bloody likely, but it’s an idea that Colin Cowherd keeps bringing up and it would be fascinating if it actually happened. LeBron could take some time off to reinvigorate his body, film Space Jam 2, and return either midseason to a contender or sit out the whole season and return in a year when the possibilities to construct a superteam are much more palatable than they are right now.