LeBron James: 5 potential landing spots in 2018 free agency

5. Houston Rockets

Talent-wise, adding LeBron James to the Houston Rockets would be tremendous. Arguably two of the top five players in the league, coupled with one of the greatest point guards of all time, would produce an offensive juggernaut.

There are three reasons, though, as to why this transaction would never happen.

The first is that LeBron reportedly isn’t fond of the city of Houston, which would make it very difficult for general manager Daryl Morey to convince him to uproot his life in Cleveland to move to Texas.

The second is that James’ fit with both Chris Paul and James Harden would be questionable, with all three at their best with the ball in their hands.

Both Paul and Harden were able to sacrifice in order to make their relationship work, but would they be willing to sacrifice more for James? Especially considering it’s plausible they don’t feel the need to do so after having the Golden State Warriors down 3-2 in the conference finals?

The third reason is that the Rockets would have to gut most of their roster in order to fit James under the salary cap, either in a sign-and-trade scenario or with LeBron opting into the final year of his contract and the Cavs trading him to Houston.

This most likely means having to say goodbye to guys like Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker. That’s three guys that were crucial to the team’s 65 wins this past season and who would be sorely missed if they were to be dealt away. Depth would be an issue, and Paul, LeBron and Clint Capela would all have to sacrifice on their new contracts.

LeBron could look at this team and shrug off the potential fit if it meant playing with two other elite guards in the hopes of dethroning Golden State.

More than likely, though, there are simply too many question marks to consider the Rockets a viable landing spot. That certainly doesn’t mean Morey won’t try, though.