For the fourth time in his career, the NBA world held its breath on where LeBron James would decide to play. Only this time, it would be the final one he would make.
James decided on the Philadelphia 76ers as his last landing spot for his NBA career, joining a team that is loaded with star power in Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid, not to mention a budding young star in V.J. Edgecombe.
Now that James has made his decision, a lot has been coming out about his thought process on this decision and why he landed on Philly. However, what this whole soap opera did reveal though was that James’ choice could have come a lot quicker if it weren’t for this outcome.
LeBron James was New York bound if the Knicks did not end their championship drought
The Knicks are one of the NBA’s most iconic franchises and they had not won much of anything in over 50 years. James is known for ending droughts and liking a challenge, as he did that in Cleveland and brought the Lakers back to prominence.
James has been on the record on multiple occasions saying that there is no place like Madison Square Garden. It is every hoopers dream to play in that arena.
Even his agent, Rich Paul, said that if New York did not win it all, then there would be no decision process. James would be a Knick. But, after they won the finals this year, it did not make sense to join, and he wanted to respect what they have built over there.
Now that James will be in Philly, it has come out that he could end up living in New York and commuting to Camden and Philadelphia, where the Sixers’ facilities and arena are. It is also being said that his wife wants to live in the city and explore business ventures there.
It would also allow for James to continue building his business empire and dominate both coasts, as he already has a very solid foundation set in Los Angeles from his time with the Lakers. This move to the East Coast makes a lot of sense from that regard.
This goes to show that James’ decision went beyond basketball. Yes, winning is his priority, but bonuses don’t hurt either. He has a great chance to win and compete with the Sixers, while also continuing to build his life off the court.
It would have been fun to see James don the orange and blue, but he had to settle for the blue and white. You can’t help but ask “what if the Knicks didn’t win”, because that would mean we would see one of the all-time greats play in the world’s most famous arena on a nightly basis.
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