Houston Rockets are the favorites to sign LeBron James
NBA fans who hate superteams should look away. The Houston Rockets are now the favorites to land LeBron James this summer.
Cavaliers fans might want to savor watching LeBron James ply his trade for Cleveland in this year’s NBA Finals. According to oddsmakers, King James will be headed south this summer. It’s predicted that James will join up with James Harden and Chris Paul in Houston.
Oddsshark has now installed the Rockets as strong favorites to land James. Houston come in at +150 to land the prized free agent. Interestingly, the 76ers come in second at +300. They are followed by the Cavaliers at +350 to retain James.
Of course, Houston will need to do significant salary cap work to open up enough space to bring James to Texas. GM Daryl Morey showed last season that he can make the numbers work when he wants to sign a big free agent though. Serious roster changes were required to make Paul a Rocket.
Updated odds on what team LeBron will play for next season (@betonline_ag):
— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) June 5, 2018
Rockets +150
76ers +300
Cavaliers +350
Lakers +400
Spurs +1200
Warriors +1600
Clippers +1800
Heat +2500
Analysis: https://t.co/cec2eNGi21 pic.twitter.com/knqeWyirQ9
That transaction was good enough to get Houston all the way to the Western Conference Finals. They were narrowly defeated by Golden State there. That’s something that LeBron can relate to. His Cavaliers will almost certainly meet the same fate at the hands of the Warriors.
The natural question becomes whether adding James will be enough to get Houston over the top. On the surface the answer is an obvious yes. James is one of the best players in the game. Adding him to superstars like James and Harden would give Mike D’Antoni a crunch time lineup capable of defeating Golden state head to head.
The question is just how much peripheral talent would leave Houston to make room for LeBron. Parting with players like Clint Capela or Trevor Ariza would drastically reduce the team’s depth. For Morey and the Rockets, the devil would be in the details. It’s unclear just how many players the team would be forced to lose to sign James.
Next: Cavs have to solve Warriors pick-and-roll blitz
Ultimately, it’s fair to expect Houston to do everything they can to sign LeBron James this summer. The current plight of the Cavaliers may push the superstar right into their hands.