LeBron’s Free Agency Continues to Stall NBA Offseason

LeBron James continues to hold up the rest of the NBA while he decides on his next team. 

It has been 23 days since James parted ways with the Lakers after eight seasons, leading to nearly a month full of speculation as to where the 41-year-old will play next. 

NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently said at a CNBC event last week that the league can’t formally set its schedule without knowing where one of its biggest stars will be playing. 

“We have to finish up the schedule, and where LeBron plays affects the schedule,” Silver said. “It will influence how we set the schedule—opening week, Christmas. So I need him to make a decision.”

But James is also holding up the rest of free agency around the league as several key players remain unsigned, with the teams interested in them remaining in a holding pattern until the NBA’s all-time leading scorer makes up his mind. 

A common denominator among some of the main unsigned free agents: They are also represented by James’s agent in Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul.

In most years, the NBA goes into hibernation in late July. The league’s personnel and media descend on Las Vegas for Summer League when most of free agency is wrapped up and then head out on vacation until the regular season comes within view in September. 

But James is extending the offseason and is holding up deals for multiple teams and potential teammates as he ponders his destination. 

“We’re definitely working later than usual,” one front office executive told Front Office Sports.  

James’s free agency has extended longer than any of his previous ones combined. In 2010, he went eight days before announcing he would sign with the Heat during “The Decision.” The time between his departure from Miami and return to Cleveland four years later lasted 10 days. And it took just 18 hours for James to announce he was heading west to Los Angeles in 2018. 

All of James’s free agencies began with an ending in mind. He ended his first one on ESPN, second with a Sports Illustrated op-ed, and third through the Klutch Sports X/Twitter account. But the length of his current free agency leads one to wonder whether it has the game plan his previous ones had. 

First in line for new deals after James decides are James Harden (Cavaliers) and Draymond Green (Warriors). Harden declined his $42.3 million player option for next season on June 29, the day before James parted ways with the Lakers, to sign a long-term deal in Cleveland. Harden, who turns 37 next month, wants an NBA championship and is reportedly willing to sign for less money to have James alongside him. 

The Cavaliers could potentially offer James the full mid-level exception of $15 million if Harden takes a pay cut and if the team trades Jarrett Allen and Max Strus. But if James is fine taking the veteran minimum of roughly $4 million, it wouldn’t be necessary. 

Then there’s the case of Green, who declined his $27 million player option with the Warriors in an attempt to help lure James to Golden State. The Warriors can offer James the full mid-level exception without performing any trades, but it would require Green to sign for less. Green is another Klutch client James is keeping in limbo. 

Peyton Watson, another Klutch client, and Jalen Duren, round out some of the other major unsigned free agents all awaiting a decision from James.