NBA Rumors: LeBron James could eye signing with Rockets or Bulls
By Josh Hill
The future of LeBron James is up in the air to say the very least but it’s one that could see him return to Miami for another season. In fact, the most likely scenario this offseason sees LeBron James coming back to South Beach but it might not be before he’s seriously tempted elsewhere.
More from Chicago Bulls
- NBA Rumors: Warriors, Lakers among contenders for key free agent
- 3 players Bulls can sign with Disabled Player Exception
- NBA free agency: The 3 biggest losers in this offseason so far
- The new NBA flopping rules explained
- 5 players Sixers could acquire in Harden deal to stay competitive
According to Eric Koreen of the National Post, the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls could both be options for LeBron this offseason but both are incredibly sketchy places for him to go given their individual situations.
"He could go to Houston to play with James Harden and Dwight Howard or Chicago to play with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, but neither of those wagers is particularly safe either, especially if he moved to the loaded Western Conference."
With Houston, as pointed out by Koreen, the Western Conference is a lot harder than the Eastern Conference and there is a virtual certainty that LeBron would face the San Antonio Spurs before he reaches the NBA Finals. Granted, the Finals would be a breeze if LeBron was in the West, but getting there would be harder than anything LeBron has faced in his career.
As for Chicago, they have no cap space and they’d need to gut their roster of everyone except Derrick Rose to make room for LeBron — which defeats the entire purpose of coming to the Bulls. If Chicago found a way to land Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony, then LeBron could join rank. But the chances are they’d have to deal Joakim Noah to make room on the books for LeBron and there’s a fat chance that he’d want to play for a team even less talented than the ones his Heat teams disposed of with relative ease in the past.