Philly Front Office

The date is July 4, twenty-twenty something and LeBron James is about to do what he does every year…The Decision. In what has become an annual tradition, after winning his 4th NBA title and first with the Lakers, the benevolent James is once again deciding what team he will play for this year. On July 1, the first day of the NBA offseason, teams are told by Maverick Carter to put their names in a pool along with their plan for free agency. LeBron will then do his work to confirm these plans with other players and make his choice. He will sign a 1-year contract with the team of his choosing for the league minimum.

Can you imagine? LeBron has made so much money and accomplished so much that he is one of the few out there that could actually pull something like this off. His motivations could be his own too. Maybe he wants to chase titles, maybe he wants to bring some joy to downtrodden markets, maybe he wants to mentor the #1 pick each year. He could do whatever he wants and literally every team in the league would be up for it. This could have been the 5th year of such an outrageous plan and everyone would have eaten up. The original decision seemed kind of corny and self-serving, this version would be more fun because there would be fewer hurt feelings. Going in, every team would know that this was only a 1-year thing.

The benefit would be staggering too. Since his initial contract with the Lakers ended, LeBron has been signing 1+1 deals that pay him about $50m, then guarantee him another $50m if anything goes wrong. IF things go right, then he opts out and signs another 1+1. It is working just fine for LeBron who keeps racking up milestones and money. The thing is, he isn’t really getting any closer to his goal of winning more championships. Sure, he has 4 already and he doesn’t NEED more, but his situation in LA isn’t going to get him anymore either because they aren’t going to get past OKC, Denver, Minnesota, or even Houston anymore. He’s dead in the water.

Wait, why would LeBron choose to make the league minimum when he can make $50m+. The short answer? He’s a billionaire. According to Forbes, he has about $1.5b in net worth. He is so good at his money-making money that his NBA salary doesn’t really mean much anymore. It’s easy for me to tell him to forfeit hundreds of millions, but he could probably get the team to fork that money over to charity and look like the best goddamn person in the world for doing it.

Imagine what a team could do with minimum salary LeBron? Big 3? That’s cute, what about Big 4? Maybe your team needs role players? How about Lebron James and 2 high end 3-and-D wings? I write a Sixers blog, imagine him working along side Joel Embiid and James Harden a few years ago when they really needed someone’s leadership and focus? Maybe it wouldn’t be enough for a championship, but it would have been fun as hell.

Then imagine how all-in a team would be in that 1 year? They would go nuts trying to build a super power around that one season. The league would go insane. What would the Spurs do right now? Would they speed up their timeline knowing they had 1 chance with LeBron even when they planned a slow burn with Wemby?

The best thing about all of this? IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED! Hell, he could have done it just by staying with the Lakers. It has been kind of silly watching him twist and contort the Lakers these last few years for his own satisfaction. They are always scraping the margins and mortgaging the future to appease the King. He could have really helped them out by not holding them hostage with his own salary every year. Imagine they had room to sign Jalen Brunson a few years ago or brought in Nickeil Alexander-Walker and kept Dorian Finney Smith this year? That extra cap space would be like a cheat code.

There’s nothing against the rules for a player doing something like this. Maybe the next LeBron James would do it just to win, especially with salaries rising exponentially like they are. Maybe a player really would put winning above everything.

DISCLAIMER: None of this should be read like I’m anti-player or think LeBron is greedy for not doing this. Players have a limited shelf life and should get every dollar coming to them. You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be cool though.

Thank you to Chad and Dane for convincing me to rewrite this by instantly having a better idea than what I originally wrote. Statistics and cap figures courtesy of Spotrac and Basketball Reference