LeBron James Nearly Had Stephen A. Smith at His Door Begging for Knicks’ Finals Hope

LeBron James' options have narrowed down to a handful of teams with the Los Angeles Lakers leading the pack.

LeBron James Nearly Had Stephen A. Smith at His Door Begging for Knicks’ Finals Hope

LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith (Image via FirstSportz)

LeBron James is still a free agent, even though some teams in the league have already started announcing trades and signings hours before the NBA Draft.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a tough task at hand. They want to retain Austin Reaves, but signing him will be expensive. That complicates matters for the league’s all-time leading scorer.

The Akron native has done enough this past season to prove that he deserves another max contract. However, he also has the option to sign elsewhere on the veteran minimum.

$3 million can open doors that were previously closed for James. That way, he could land on a contender, with a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers or a move to the Golden State Warriors being thrown about. But then, Stephen A. Smith added another team to the list.

If the Knicks had not gone to the NBA Finals, I was going to come here on national TV and beg LeBron James to come to New York… That’s the last thing I was going to do… That’s how desperate I was because 53 years is a long time, and there is a lot of suffering we have had to endure.

Stephen A. Smith said

This revelation left his First Take colleagues either bemused, smirking, or even baffled that the man who is at odds with LeBron James due to their beef was going to set it aside to do what was needed for his Knicks.

Thankfully, as Smith said, he did not have to do that, now that the Knicks have won. But if they faltered, he was ready to beg for LeBron James to go to New York.

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LeBron James did not spill the beans on his future to his former Cavs teammates

Quite a few people wanted LeBron James to consider the New York Knicks, but that was before the team won the 2026 championship. That removes them from his potential list of destinations.

LeBron James and part of the 2016 team at the reunion
LeBron James and part of the 2016 team at the reunion (Image via Kevin Love/IG)

But it still leaves Cleveland and the Bay Area as possibilities, even though his agent claims other contenders are vying for his signature.

When I asked the man what he was gonna do, Bron did a great job with his media training and laughed it off. I didn’t get y’all nothing… I can tell you he still looks like he’s playing basketball.

Iman Shumpert revealed on NBA Today

This was Iman Shumpert, fresh off spending a lot of time with James and many members of the 2016 NBA Championship-winning Cleveland Cavaliers team in Europe.

They arranged the 10th-anniversary reunion and reveled in the moment. But try as he might, Shumpert could not get the King to reveal anything about his future. Since the former guard is an analyst on ESPN, there was no way LeBron James was going to reveal any details about his decision. It seems it will be a while before the basketball world knows what he will do.

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Top draft prospect hopes his class compares to LeBron James’

Wherever LeBron James goes, he will face a fresh set of rookies for the 23rd time in his career. The latest lot, featuring AJ Dybansta, Cameron Boozer, and others, is touted as a strong draft class. That means the Lakers’ superstar will have to contend with many promising young prospects.

I think at least 10 of us will probably be still playing when, let’s say, 8 years down the road. I think that’s how deep we are, but it could be more. I think it’s gonna be probably one of the most talked about draft classes since LeBron’s, I think.

AJ Dybansta said

This was the possible No. 1 overall pick’s answer when Malika Andrews asked him what he felt about his fellow prospects. The BYU alum believes that in time, his 2026 draft class will be considered equivalent to the famed 2003 class that LeBron James led.

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