{"id":2054356,"date":"2026-07-21T18:02:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2054356"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:02:51","slug":"we-are-all-witness-to-how-much-power-lebron-james-still-wields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2054356","title":{"rendered":"We are all witness to how much power LeBron James still wields"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Athletic has live coverage of\u00a0<\/i>LeBron James\u2019 free agency decision<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Forget momentarily about all of the points, rebounds, assists and championships, about his brilliant basketball mind and his business acumen. The most incredible part about LeBron James right now is that at 41 years, 6 months and 21 days of age, he is still in charge of everything.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

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

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Never has that been more apparent than the last three weeks when he has effectively pulled the Jake brake on the rest of the NBA. The skid marks stretch from Philadelphia to Miami, from California to New York.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged last week the league office can\u2019t finish the schedule until LeBron chooses a destination. That\u2019s real power.<\/p>\n

James Harden remains unsigned while the Cleveland Cavaliers wait on yet another LeBron decision. The futures of other veterans like Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga remain murky because of him.<\/p>\n

Summer League is over. This is usually around the time the league goes into hibernation, when coaches and executives take their well-deserved vacations and get away from business for most of August. LeBron is now encroaching on that time as well.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Where will LeBron James end up?<\/div>\n
The Athletic NBA Staff and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/”,”name”:”Where will LeBron James end up?”,”description”:”With his free agency decision still looming, we asked our reporters where they think LeBron James will play next.”,”uploadDate”:”2026-07-17T15:20:39.563Z”,”duration”:”PT52S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/MJrJogZd5Z6K.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/MJrJogZd5Z6K\/MJrJogZd5Z6K.m3u8″,”transcript”:”We asked our reporters, where will LeBron James end up? pretty far wherever I land. I’m gonna go do what I do best. I think he’s going to Cleveland. Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland, because he misses me. Uh, he’s definitely not going to Dallas for the oil, Gulf, Macau in Africa. So I, I think he’s gonna end up Cleveland back home. I think the draw of playing at home makes the most sense. It’s gonna be either Cleveland or Golden State. Play with Stephen Curry. If happiness is what it is, then it’s gotta either be going back home or going upstate Miami because he is a man who loves golf and he already did the Cavs rerun. I feel like if Giannis is really trying to talk me into starting this thing again in Miami, how could you say no to that? I would love to see him go to Philly. Philly makes a ton of sense, but I think he ends up in Cleveland. And then like my favorite fit is Minnesota. Like I’d love to see him play with and, and LaMelo. Like let’s, let’s get crazy.”,”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”:”The Athletic NBA Staff and Jeshua Kidd”}]}<\/p>\n
\n
\n