LeBron James’ best fit is in Miami with the Heat

There’s one big domino left to fall in free agency and it could potentially have a huge impact on next season: LeBron James, who will be going into year 24. 

The Miami Heat remain his top fit, giving him the highest odds to claim a fifth NBA championship. They have the best player in the conference, one of the top coaches in the game, who he won two consecutive titles with and excellent defenders, creating the infrastructure to ensure he isn’t wasted during the regular season.

James would give them playmaking, which is what the team mostly needs. He would presumably be a starter there, but think of how much of a mismatch it would be if he was feasting against second stringers.  Keep in mind that the best five don’t always start, as Boston Celtics teams with John Havlicek and later Kevin McHale proved, and more recently, the Golden State Warriors with Andre Iguodala.

For now, many Heat fans are like Telemachus, praying for his father to come home but it’s ’Bron, after 12 years. There’s always been unfinished business and now is the right time for a reunion.

Forget Cleveland. The main guys there haven’t won anything at this level, and playing with James Harden, who will presumably return to Cleveland, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen since ge always goes missing in important playoff games, and Evan Mobley still has some growing up to do on the court.

Philly would be a legacy play since they have only won championships in 1955, 1967 and 1983. The last time they won, back-to-back MVPs Moses Malone and Julius Erving played there, and they also haven’t been to the Finals since 2001. Making them legitimate again would be enormous for his legacy, but it would be too hard to do, considering how Joel Embiid can only play one defensive scheme (drop coverage) and James needs his big man to play closer to the level of the screen. 

Golden State is a terrible idea because Jimmy Butler is coming back from a torn ACL and Stephen Curry is slowing down, so James would be working too hard before April. Veterans are needed to win, but hoops is still a relatively young person’s game, so bringing in James is desperation to keep the Curry era going. 

His super agent, Rich Paul, says he won’t be rushed, and James is milking every second of the attention he’s getting. This even comes at the expense of the league because Adam Silver wants to know where he’s going before wrapping up the national TV order for next season. Amusingly, James still holds that much influences, and hopefully, he’ll decide in the next couple of days instead of making the public wait a fortnight.