Atlanta Hawks
Surprise!
The Hawks are not a team many people think about when looking at James’ options, but Atlanta is a quiet contender for his services. Sure they have dismal crowds, get zero national attention and basically call NBATV their second home, but one or two moves could arm the Hawks with some serious cap space heading into the LeBron Sweepstakes.
The Hawks already have All-Stars Paul Millsap and Al Horford up front, adding LeBron would give them the best front-line in the league, period. And with Jeff Teague and the sharp-shooting Kyle Korver in the backcourt, the Hawks could employ one of the most lethal offensive units in the league.
Putting shooters like Korver and Millsap and an inside threat like Horford around LeBron would only emphasize his incredible passing ability and take plenty of offensive pressure off of LeBron.
Los Angeles Lakers
This may be unlikely, but it’s necessary to visit the Lakers any time they have the cap space required to pursue a mega-star free agent. The current roster as it stands (Kobe, Nash, and a bunch of question marks) is definitely not the kind of team that would convince LeBron to leave Miami, the Lakers as always are a move or two away from being a desirable location.
As it stands, LA is projected to have around $26 million in cap space, including the contract of whoever they draft this Thursday. That is plenty of money to throw at LeBron, but thinking the team will offer him a max deal and pray is looking at the situation the wrong way.
By stretching the remainder of Steve Nash’s contract (much more likely than trading him), the Lakers can open up about $6 million more in cap space, putting them right in the $30 million range to pursue free agents. In other words, giving the team enough money to attempt to create their own Big Three by offering both LeBron and Carmelo a deal in the range of $15 million to team up with Kobe Bryant and relive their Olympic glory days.
Okay, so the idea is a complete pipe dream, but it seems to be what the Lakers are angling to attempt. No other franchise in the league can give star free agents an opportunity to offer input on a coaching hire since the Lakers are the only team currently without a head man. And while Kobe’s contract was ridiculous (and becoming even worse by the day), it does show free agents that the team will take care of you in the twilight of your career if you lead them to glory.
Plenty of things have to break the Lakers way for this to have even a chance of happening, but knowing what we do about the teams penchant for pulling off the impossible, don’t be surprised if the purple and gold are in the running for James.
FLIP THE PAGES TO SEE TWO SURPRISE CONTENDERS IN THE LEBRON SWEEPSTAKES…..