{"id":2025585,"date":"2026-07-03T15:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2025585"},"modified":"2026-07-03T15:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:58:17","slug":"agent-rich-paul-explains-lebron-james-lakers-exit-reveals-potential-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2025585","title":{"rendered":"Agent Rich Paul explains LeBron James\u2019 Lakers exit, reveals potential destinations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>For a few weeks after Season 23 ended, LeBron James was \u201c80 percent sure\u201d he would return to the Los Angeles Lakers, he told longtime friend and sports agent Rich Paul. \u2028Obviously that didn\u2019t hold, and now the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer is again the league\u2019s most attractive and tantalizing free agent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Speaking on his \u201cGame Over\u201d podcast with Max Kellerman, Paul said that when James was sure he wanted to continue playing but not with the Lakers, he challenged his most famous client with one question: What did he want most as he entered\u00a0his 24th NBA season?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe answer was happiness,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n<p>During the episode, Paul discussed several potential destinations for James on a whiteboard. The Philadelphia 76ers were prominently listed, as were the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and a few other teams on the outer edges.<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"ejCulLZbEuq9KA0\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_Root__QeM_i\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_VideoWidth__XjNKI VideoHost_Portrait__XBaJC\">\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Root__AGckL\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Title__npf3B\">The next stop for LeBron should be&#8230;<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Authors__jxyYV\">David Aldridge, Joe Vardon and more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_VideoWrapper__Xgp47\">{&#8220;@context&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/schema.org&#8221;,&#8221;@type&#8221;:&#8221;VideoObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/ejCulLZbEuq9KA0\/&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/ejCulLZbEuq9KA0\/&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The next stop for LeBron should be&#8230;&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;David Aldridge, Joe Vardon and Jon Krawczynski explain why the Warriors, Cavaliers and Timberwolves are great options for LeBron. &#8220;,&#8221;uploadDate&#8221;:&#8221;2026-07-01T22:34:39.797Z&#8221;,&#8221;duration&#8221;:&#8221;PT1M40S&#8221;,&#8221;thumbnailUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/ejCulLZbEuq9KA0\/j2R0NfgXtcZW.0000000.jpg&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/ejCulLZbEuq9KA0\/j2R0NfgXtcZW\/j2R0NfgXtcZW.m3u8&#8243;,&#8221;transcript&#8221;:&#8221;Here&#8217;s why LeBron James should go with the Warriors, because he&#8217;s played his entire adult life in pursuit of championships and accolades, and he&#8217;s got everything that he could want. It&#8217;s time for him to just have some fun. Have fun playing next to Steph Curry, who you&#8217;ve gotten to know very well. Have fun playing for Steve Kerr, who was your Olympic coach. Have fun playing next to Draymond Green instead of against Draymond Green. Stefan. And let the championships take care of themselves. LeBron to the Cavs again. It&#8217;s not because they&#8217;re good, it&#8217;s not because they can pay him, or probably can. And it&#8217;s not because it&#8217;s home, it&#8217;s all three of those things and a compelling case for LeBron to come to Cleveland for one last go around. If LeBron James is truly prioritizing the chance to win and have the biggest impact, he should come to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves have an exciting young core with Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, and Jade McDaniels. They also have really strong defense to surround him with Rudy Gobert and McDaniels, so he wouldn&#8217;t have to work as hard. That side of the floor. They also have a gaping hole at power forward in their starting lineup, so LeBron could come in and get right to it with the Minnesota Timberwolves, be a veteran leader on a team that has never won a title in a city that hasn&#8217;t had a men&#8217;s title since 1991. So you want to talk about making the biggest impact, the biggest splash by coming to a team and winning a championship, the Minnesota Timberwolves are it.&#8221;,&#8221;ineligibleRegion&#8221;:[&#8220;BI&#8221;,&#8221;BY&#8221;,&#8221;CD&#8221;,&#8221;CF&#8221;,&#8221;CU&#8221;,&#8221;IQ&#8221;,&#8221;IR&#8221;,&#8221;KP&#8221;,&#8221;LB&#8221;,&#8221;LY&#8221;,&#8221;ML&#8221;,&#8221;NI&#8221;,&#8221;RU&#8221;,&#8221;SD&#8221;,&#8221;SO&#8221;,&#8221;SS&#8221;,&#8221;SY&#8221;,&#8221;UA&#8221;,&#8221;VE&#8221;,&#8221;YE&#8221;,&#8221;ZW&#8221;],&#8221;publisher&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;NewsMediaOrganization&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/&#8221;,&#8221;foundingDate&#8221;:&#8221;2016-01-25&#8243;,&#8221;logo&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;ImageObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;creditText&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;height&#8221;:&#8221;60&#8243;,&#8221;width&#8221;:&#8221;435&#8243;},&#8221;publishingPrinciples&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/&#8221;,&#8221;sameAs&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic&#8221;},&#8221;author&#8221;:[{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;Person&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;David Aldridge, Joe Vardon and more&#8221;}]}<\/p>\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_root__AKv5b\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16;max-height:min(100%)\">\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_inner__86C_2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16\">\n<div class=\"VideoStreamPlayer_GridStack__2H0p2\"><video preload=\"metadata\"><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a twist, Paul said if the Knicks hadn\u2019t won the title, \u201cthere would be no board. He\u2019d be going to the Knicks.\u201d It\u2019s unlikely James will sign with them, but Paul said the only thing that would need to happen is for Jalen Brunson to call.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would have to pick up the phone and say it\u2019s no issue with me with you joining,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n<p>Paul also pointed to James\u2019 hometown of Cleveland as a serious contender, citing familiarity with the organization, Gilbert family and team president Koby Altman, as well as long-standing relationships with people within the organization, such as assistant general manager Brandon Weems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrandon Weems, who I call basically like LeBron\u2019s brother, is a big feather in the Cavs\u2019 cap,\u201d the sports agent said.<\/p>\n<p>From a roster perspective, while Paul said it\u2019s \u201cnothing against James Harden,\u201d James would have loved to play with the Clippers\u2019 Darius Garland, whose game he admires, similar to that of another player, the Sixers\u2019 Tyrese Maxey.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>\u201cLeBron loves Maxey,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the Sixers\u2019 recent acquisition of Jaylen Brown makes them more attractive as a potential destination. James is also familiar with Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, whom he played high school basketball against, and Jameer Nelson, who is a new addition to Philadelphia\u2019s front office. They also discussed how LeBron could help develop standout rookie VJ Edgecombe.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Heat also remains in play due to James\u2019 previous tenure with the team and familiarity with the organization. Another rarely discussed option would be the Timberwolves. Paul cited the ownership group, the possibility of playing with Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball and the defensive support of Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels.<\/p>\n<p>Paul said that playing in Golden State with Steph Curry and Draymond Green, and the way the Lacob family has built a winning organization, stood out, too.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the podcast, Paul also said the Nuggets, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs were part of broader league-wide discussions. With the Dallas Mavericks, Paul said many factors outside of basketball were part of the potential equation, in addition to roster evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Paul\u2019s comments on the podcast, no final decision had been made regarding James\u2019 next team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a few weeks after Season 23 ended, LeBron James was \u201c80 percent sure\u201d he would return to the Los Angeles Lakers, he told longtime friend and sports agent Rich Paul. \u2028Obviously that didn\u2019t hold, and now the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer is again the league\u2019s most attractive and tantalizing free agent. Advertisement Speaking on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2025585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2025585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2025585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2025585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2025585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}