{"id":2040537,"date":"2026-07-13T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2040537"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:00:55","slug":"lebron-james-has-great-options-for-his-last-go-round-heres-a-vote-for-the-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2040537","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James has great options for his last go-round. Here\u2019s a vote for \u2026 the Wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThis stuff is hard. And you got to stay together, if you\u2019ve got the guts. And you don\u2019t find the first door and run out of it.\u201d<\/em> \u2014 Pat Riley, June 19, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2014 We\u2019re here again, just like 16 and 12 years ago, respectively. The whole NBA is once again awaiting LeBron James to decide where he wants to play basketball next season.<\/p>\n

James has multiple good options for, what should be, the last stop in his career tour.<\/p>\n

But \u2026 James should take his talents to Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The land of KG and \u2018Sota, and Prince, and Kirby Puckett, and Mary Richards.<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Go to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, LeBron. It\u2019s the best basketball move, and I\u2019m not just taking the Wolves\u2019 word for it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not important to James, I\u2019m guessing, that there hasn\u2019t been a men\u2019s team champion in Minnesota among the four major sports since 1991. His legacy is bringing a title to Cleveland in 2016, breaking that city\u2019s streak of 52 years since a team in one of the major sports leagues won a chip. That\u2019s what he would like to be remembered most for \u2014 and he\u2019s correct.<\/p>\n

But, this time around, Minnesota is the best fit. Even though there are easier paths upon which James can finish his career.<\/p>\n

No one would begrudge James taking a third and final trip home to Cleveland, 45 minutes north of his beloved Akron, Ohio. Despite being immolated by the Knicks in a four-game sweep that will be best remembered for Kenny Atkinson\u2019s \u2026 unfortunate phrasing,<\/a> the Cavaliers remain a contender, albeit one that hasn\u2019t been able to break through in the Eastern Conference with their core group of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. They swapped young for old last season by trading point guard Darius Garland to the Clippers for James Harden, then reached the conference finals for the first time since 2018, when James last led them there. But this year\u2019s run went south against New York, quickly.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia, invigorated by the acquisition of an in-his-prime Jaylen Brown,<\/a> to go along with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and V.J. Edgecombe? That, too, would make sense for James. The 76ers\u2019 window has been reopened with Brown; adding James would provide additional scaffolding.<\/p>\n

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LeBron James to Philadelphia? Saquon Barkley makes his pitch<\/div>\n
Zach Berman<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/ZFcndQr3xfsxJX3\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/ZFcndQr3xfsxJX3\/”,”name”:”LeBron James to Philadelphia? Saquon Barkley makes his pitch”,”description”:”At Saquon Barkley’s youth football camp this week, the Philadelphia Eagles’ star running back makes his pitch to LeBron James in free agency. Barkley would know — he signed as a free agent with the Eagles in 2024 and won a Super Bowl”,”uploadDate”:”2026-07-10T20:35:30.973Z”,”duration”:”PT18S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/ZFcndQr3xfsxJX3\/fp8n6grPbqFM.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/ZFcndQr3xfsxJX3\/fp8n6grPbqFM\/fp8n6grPbqFM.m3u8″,”transcript”:”Um, that’s a great question. Uh, I mean, I, I think it’s one of the greatest sports towns in the world. Uh, I know Josh Hart said the opposite. I saw that today on Twitter, but I have to disagree with him. But, um, yeah, I mean, if he wanna go out with a bang, because a great spot would be in Philly and winning a championship in Philadelphia. You’ve been I remember that.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Zach Berman”}]}<\/p>\n
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