For the first time since his free agency began, LeBron James made a pair of public appearances on Thursday in New York, taking part in a live taping of his Mind The Game podcast with Tyrese Haliburton at Fanatics Fest, then speaking to Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman at the CNBC and Boardroom Game Plan Summit later in the day.
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, James wasn’t ready to announce his free agency decision at either event, playfully rebuffing Haliburton when the Pacers guard tried to bring up the subject, but he did confirm that he expects to choose a team relatively soon.
“I won’t hold you guys up too much longer,” LeBron said at the CNBC/Boardroom event.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (YouTube link), ESPN’s Shams Charania said, “I don’t know if I’m holding my breath for announcement this week,” but suggested James may reveal his choice next week, reiterating that the star forward and agent Rich Paul have received all the information they need to make a decision.
James, who is believed to be considering the Cavaliers, Heat, Sixers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and possibly the Nuggets, didn’t provide any real hints on Thursday about which way he’s leaning, but said he’s looking for the team that feels right “as a player” and “as a person,” as well as the one that is the best fit for his happiness and his family.
“It’s a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well,” James said when asked by an 11-year-old audience member at the Mind The Game taping about his decision, per Stephen Whyno and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “Just for the last part of my career and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career … I’m going to try to fit into whatever team I’m going into — but also give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I’ve been able to grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ins and outs of the game of basketball.”
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Haliburton said on Thursday that he texted James in June, before he had decided to leave the Lakers, to try to recruit him to the Pacers, per McMenamin. “And he texted me back two laughing/crying faces and that’s all I got,” Haliburton said with a laugh (Twitter video link via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files). “So, I decided from then on that I’m done pursuing him in free agency. I don’t know if it’s going to happen with Indiana.”
James made a point during the Mind The Game podcast taping to thank the Lakers for how the franchise treated him over the course of his eight years in Los Angeles, as McMenamin relays. “Shout-out my former team, I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers,” James said. “One of the most historical franchises in the world. Shout-out (governor) Jeanie Buss, the whole Buss family. (President of basketball operations) Rob Pelinka. Everybody. All the coaches that I played for there. All my teammates. S–t, I am going to miss them all, obviously. So, that was an unbelievable ride and I’m just looking forward to what holds next as I wind down the final stages of my journey.”
Appearing at a press conference in Miami on Thursday to introduce Giannis Antetokounmpo, Heat president Pat Riley admitted he’s not sure exactly where his team stands in the LeBron sweepstakes, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “I don’t know, I’ll be honest with you,” Riley told ESPN. “Obviously, we’ve had conversations with Rich and they were very good. So if that happens and he wants to come to the ‘305,’ we got a golf course. The weather’s nice. Steve Kerr, same thing down here. And there’s no state tax. So that’s a little better than California.” Antetokounmpo also told Youngmisuk that he’d be “very, very excited” to team up with James in Miami. “He’s one of the best players to ever play this game, if not the best,” Giannis said. “(I’d) be able to learn so much from him.”
In his own appearance at the Game Plan Summit, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s schedule-makers for the 2026/27 season are waiting to see where James ends up. “We have to finish up the schedule and where LeBron plays will affect the schedule,” Silver said, according to Whyno and Reynolds. “So, I would like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule. As you can imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. It will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. I need him to make a decision. But the direct answer is I have no inside information.”