Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- LeBron James remains unsigned more than three weeks into free agency, showing no signs of rushing his decision.
- League sources suggest his choice may hinge on the outcome of extension talks involving Anthony Davis and a potential trade.
- The next few weeks will test whether a blockbuster move involving multiple All-Stars gets greenlit — or if the decision drags into August and beyond.
More than three weeks into free agency, LeBron James still has yet to choose where he'll be playing next year. His agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, said during a recent podcast that LeBron is "not going to be rushed" despite pressure from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
In James' defense, he did foreshadow this being a drawn-out process.
"I think at some point in June, late June, as July rolls around, free agency starts to get going and as July rolls around and maybe into August, we’ll start to kind of get a feel of what my future may look like," he told Steve Nash on his Mind the Game podcast in late May.
On Wednesday, we might have gotten a clue about what's contributing to the holdup.
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Washington Wizards "plan to have extension talks" with star big man Anthony Davis once he becomes eligible to sign a new deal on Aug. 6. Depending on how those talks unfold, Davis might be the key to resolving James' future as well.
On the eve of free agency, Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports reported that the Golden State Warriors were attempting to trade for Davis and then sign James in free agency. (ESPN's Shams Charania later confirmed that.)
Marc J. Spears of Andscape quickly poured cold water on that idea by reporting that the Wizards were not interested in trading Davis and were "not listening to offers for him," but what happens if extension talks go south with him in early August?
"If James were to tell the Warriors that he’d go there as long as they acquired Davis too, then Washington would hold the leverage," Fred Katz of The Athletic recently wrote. "And if Golden State offered a luscious return for James’ former running mate, the Wizards would have no choice but to listen."
To that end, O'Connor reported Wednesday that "the popular theory around the league is that LeBron has been slow-playing his decision to see if any of his suitors could find a way to land [Kyrie] Irving or Davis."
Could the AD-LeBron dream still be alive?
According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers are "believed to be the top teams being considered" by James at this juncture. However, he added that the Warriors "are among the teams that have continued their pursuit" of James, including a pitch from Draymond Green during a recent golf trip.
"I'd be crazy if we're together for X amount of days and at no point am I like, 'Yo, we need to chop it up. What the hell going on? What we doing?' Green revealed on his podcast. "Of course I did that and of course the pitch was crazy. ... With the things I shared in it, it's definitely gonna make the brain work a little bit."
Could that "crazy" pitch have included Davis? That's not as crazy as it might sound. After all, Green, James and Davis all share the same agent in Paul.
The Wizards gave up a relative pittance to acquire Davis. It only cost them the OKC Thunder's 2026 first-round pick and the Warriors' top-20-protected first-rounder in 2030, along with three second-round picks and Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham and Marvin Bagley III. They might have looked him the same way that house flippers view rundown, dilapidated homes.
Besides, the 33-year-old Davis doesn't make much sense timeline-wise for the Wizards. They just selected 19-year-old forward AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft, and they recently handed soon-to-be 28-year-old point guard Trae Young a four-year, $212.8 million extension earlier this month. They also have a bunch of other recent draft picks in their early 20s, including 2024 No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr, 2025 No. 6 overall pick Tre Johnson and 2023 No. 7 overall pick Bilal Coulibaly.
Save for Coulibaly, who will become a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn't sign an extension by October, none of those guys are poised to cash in for another few years. However, the Wizards do need to start planning ahead for when their respective rookie-scale deals expire. Handing a multi-year, nine-figure deal to an oft-injured big man in his mid-30s is antithetical to that.
Much like the Boston Celtics with Jaylen Brown, the Wizards might decide that their cleanest path forward is recouping a haul from the Warriors for Davis. Jimmy Butler ($56.8 million) gives them an easy path to matching salary for Davis ($58.5 million). From there, it's just a question of how many draft picks and/or other sweeteners it'd take to get him.
Perhaps James decides where he's playing in the next few days and renders this all null and void. But if he drags his decision out until August — much to the chagrin of the NBA's schedule-maker, TV partners and Silver — one can only wonder whether Davis' future may be the last big domino that needs to fall.
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