Wednesday’s ESPN report on the Golden State Warriors and 76ers’ attempt to trade for LeBron James at the trade deadline won’t be the last we hear about such a bold move.
Naturally, all eyes are on the Knicks, who saved their draft capital to land a superstar to pair with their All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson. But according to The Athletic, James was not the subject of their front-office meetings.
Despite all the attention on James’ recent trip to New York, where he sent out all sorts of pro-Knicks signals that sparked speculation about that Broadway-worthy possibility, a league source indicated that Knicks brass have not discussed the prospect of adding James. Not only does the team lack the cap space needed to make room for James this summer, but the idea of the Knicks making moves to free up that amount of money would be seen internally as a serious setback to their long-term plan . While that could always change, it’s telling that the Knicks didn’t respond to James’ myriad messages by heading straight into the proverbial war room to come up with a plan to bring him to the Big Apple.