LeBron and AD on THE WARRIORS?! 👀 Shams says Golden State is LOCKED IN on the duo🔒 | First Take

is all about LeBron James.LeBron is going to continue his NBA career and has informed the Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he's going to be playing elsewhere 2026 -2027 season.LeBron came to that conclusion that he wanted to play continue playing quote meaningful competitive basketball.Shams want to start with you here this morning.What is the latest with LeBron James?

I'm told LeBron James right now is in Ohio and Ohio and he is spending family time.He's taking time to regroup.But in the background, Rich Paul, his agent, got pitches from about a dozen teams when free agency opened up at 6 p .m.Eastern time with offers with proposals on what it would look like for LeBron James to come to their team.The important part of LeBron James decision to inform the Lakers that he is out, that he's leaving the team.

He's allowing them to go about their business is that he wants to go somewhere where there is a chance at a championship at meaningful basketball, something he felt was not going to be keeping him happy to put it to put it at the least if he stayed in L .A.And overall, the fact that it's now a decision that's not financially driven and he's not going to make the decision just based on money means that all these teams, whether you have a minimum contract to give him, whether you have an exception to give him or salary cap space, you're going to be involved.Courtney, when I talk to teams around the league, there are three that jump out.for LeBron James potentia State Warriors, Miami Hea Cavaliers.We know he's a championships with the he the Warriors have been pos over the last week to try LeBron James, but also pot Davis, a running mate, a p deal to form a big four.

some dominoes conversati to be had there.But the million dollar deal when the entire NBA and the Warriors expect it.to opt in lets you know everything you need to that this is something Golden State is taking very seriously.

So 12 teams reaching out to Rich Paul, his agent, three options that Shams had mentioned, keeping a really close eye on those.Shams, thank you.Stick close.We're going to be glued to our phones all throughout the rest of the day as we wait for more news on LeBron James and others.But last night, Stephen A reacted to the news and gave his two cents on where he thinks LeBron should go next.Take a listen.

Me personally, I think his best shot at a championship is going back to Cleveland.That's where I think his best shot at a championship is.One could argue Miami too with Bam and Giannis and Portis, but they gotta build a roster.He go to Cleveland without Cleveland having to give up any of his assets?I think they're the automatic favorites in the Eastern Conference.

All right, so let's bring in the rest of our crew here.We heard from Stephen A. He thinks Cleveland would be the best option for LeBron James if you're trying to win a championship right now.But Wendy, what is the best win option now for LeBron in your eyes?

Well, we may not know that just yet, because when you look at the previous times LeBron was a free agent and changed teams, the teams he went to had to break down their rosters and open up a massive amount of salary cap space.He went into salary cap space the last three times, you know, these three times he changed teams.And so those teams were not built out at all.In fact, some of them had success the first year.You know, we saw them go to the finals in Cleveland and Miami, but their teams weren't built out.All of those teams won the championship in the second year.

So the difference now is that the teams he's going to join, it does not have to spend a lot of money on him.He's either going to sign for the $15 million mid -level exception, the $6 million taxpayer exception, or my gosh, he might even takeI can't even believe I'm about to say this, he might even take the minimum.I don't even know if LeBron and minimum would ever be considered, but I guess it's on the table.So that means if you're going to get him at incredible value, Your team better damn well be set and ready to go.Now, I wouldn't say he's chasing a ring here where the be all end all is to be on the number one contender, but he's going to want to be there and every day know that he is going through what he's going through with his body.

to play on a team that can make a deep playoff run.So, that is the mandate.The mandate for the Warriors, the Cavs, the Heat, is when they come to him, they better have a very compelling roster.And I do think that we could have a team or two emerge that we don't maybe expect.And I expect LeBron to be able to take his time, because that money that he's going to sign for is going to be there no matter when it's going to be there.He doesn't have to sign right now to fill cap space.

He's not at cap space signing.So he has the luxury of chilling and waiting and letting those teams improve their case that they present to him.

Yeah, I mean the idea of Vince of a four million dollar veteran minimum contract for LeBron James is a little hard to wrap your mind around right now.But so the Cavs could be an option.Is there another one that comes to top of mind for you?

Well, the most fun option would be going to Golden State and playing with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and maybe Anthony Davis and playing with the Warriors and that sort of destroys the mystique of those two guys as competitors, right?The heartwarming story would be going back home and playing with Cleveland and maybe elevating that franchise back.Even though I think Cleveland has a bunch of holes.I think I look at the Miami Heat with Giannis already in the fold with Bam at a bio there Bobby Porter's added on they added Tim Hardaway jr.For shooting yesterday trusting the infrastructure of Eric Spolstra and Pat Riley what they've been able to do.They always find the Max Struces in the game.

Vincennes and the Duncan Robinsons, players you can find on limited resources.Let's say you add LeBron James to that.Well, he doesn't have to be the guy.He doesn't have to be the second guy.He can be the orchestrator.He can be the shot maker.

But all of the heavy lifting is going to be done by Giannis Antetokounmpo.You have to ask yourself who's going to be doing the heavy lifting in Cleveland.You have to ask yourself who's going to be doing the heavy lifting in Golden State.It's going to be him and Stephen Curry.You want to go to a lower stress situation with a higher upside.And if this is going to be a more than one year engagement, which we're not sure it's going to be, you want to go to a team that will have some resources to be able to add at trade deadlines and add in the offseason to get you closer.

If you stay West, you got to deal with San Antonio and Oklahoma City and they ain't going nowhere of Giannis as the best player that LeBron could go play with but that fit with Miami's little clunky.You got to admit like when you have Giannis BAM and LeBron in a starting lineup, that's clogging up the pain a little bit.That's not a lot of shooting and that is still cobbling together a roster around him.If I'm talking about a ready -made thing that fits already, and acknowledging the fact that LeBron James said happiness was a part of this, I'm gonna stick with Golden State.The happiest I've seen LeBron James in the last few years was playing a team USA and doing night -night with Stephen Curry on the sidelines after the man made a million threes against France like that seemed like happiness and also it seems like a seamless offensive fit.Like I'm thinking about Stephen Curry and LeBron James in that pick and roll or doubling Steph Curry a half -court and you kicking the ball to Draymond or LeBron James in the dunker spot.

Are you kicking LeBron and his four on three with LeBron with the ball in his hands that just feels like seamless transition already.And traditionally, with LeBron James's career, you think, hey, you stay in the East.It's easier to win in the East.The East is tougher this year.Like, the East might be easier.than the Western Conference.

I know OKC and San Antonio are at the top or top -heavy, but you are in the mix in the West if you just go to Golden State.

Wendy, you hear those two teams.What's your reaction?

You know, that's a...I think Golden State can make a very compelling case.I mean, I don't know about them being a real team that could win the championship if he got there, but I know he would have fun.And I know he hasn't played with them before, but he's kind of played with them before, because he played for Steve Kerr in the Olympics, and he played with Steph, and those...Man, I was around that team, USA.I loved watching them play.

They had a blast together.LeBron won MVP of the Olympics, by the way.You know, he thrived playing alongside those guys.And, obviously, Draymond.Here's the other thing.Draymond opted out of $28 million on Monday.

Draymond and LeBron are very close.I do not think LeBron lets Draymond opt out of 28 million unless he knows there's a real chance of him going there.If I were the Cavs or the Heat or anybody else, I would view Golden State as in the lead here.And so my mandate, especially Cleveland, would be, what can I do to improve my team to get ahead of Golden State in LeBron's mind?Because you know you've got a home field advantage.You know he's sitting there.

He's playing your golf courses.He's down the street.That is the one thing I think is going to be compelling.Do the Cavs hold steady and say, LeBron, come join Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and our supporting cast?Or do the Cavs go into the market and say, should we make a trade?Should we call Boston and see if we can get Jalen Brown?

Does that improve our chances of getting LeBron?How does LeBron feel about that?How does Donovan Mitchell feel about it?How does James Harden feel about it?I think Cleveland has the best chance to be upwardly mobile.And I think if you're Golden State, You're worried about that.

You're worried about, well, what if Cleveland goes out and makes a move?What if Cleveland goes out and tries to get Jalen Brown?What can we do?That's why you already heard Golden State thinking about it.to get their hands on Anthony Davis.They have three tradable first -round picks.

They have their Yaxel Luxembourg, the player that they just drafted.They have the ability to improve their roster as well.The race here isn't who's going to give the best presentation to LeBron.The race here is who's going to give the best roster to LeBron, because that's going to be a factor.

And maybe this is what the Boston Celtics now need in a soft market to be able to move Jalen Brown.Because if you're trying to entice LeBron, and there might not be the best ready -made option in the East right now, maybe that's the key for the Cleveland Cavaliers to be able to get him.To give us the full circle moment, put a bow on it and come home.Speaking of full circle moments, let's take a look back at LeBron's eight -year tenure in Los Angeles.The King made eight All -Star games, led the Lakers to the playoffs six times, and won the 2020 NBA Finals in the bubble.He was named the MVP of that series.

So there's The career, the legacy, all of the stops.Ben, as we break down LeBron's stints, you go from Cleveland the first time to Miami, his return to the Cavs 2014 -18, wins a championship there, and then his time with the Lakers.Where would you rank his LA stint among the others in the 23 years we've seen him play?

This is going to sound weird because LeBron won a championship in LA, but the Miami Heat version was the most complete version of LeBron James we've ever seen.That arguably, if you're going to have a LeBron as greatest player of all time argument, the film you're showing is the Miami Heat film.The best offensive player in the league, the most efficient offensive player in the league, the most devastating defensive player in the league, all at the same damn time.The two championships, the MVPs, what he overcame once he got there.Yes, there's the Dallas Mavericks failure, but he turned that into a destination.Secondarily, that second Cleveland Cavaliers thing.

four finals trips the triumph over the Golden State Warriors coming back down from 3 -1 and that's it.He was a more mature version.He wasn't the same athlete.The athletic version of LeBron was starting to decline just a little bit, but he was rounding it out by how great of an incomplete of a basketball player.He was then there's this version that we forget about the freak that LeBron James was during his first thing as a Cleveland Cavalier.We all like to talk about how finishing in that series against Boston, but y 'all are Go look at that film against Detroit in 2007.

Go look at how high that man used to jump.Like, go look at the numbers that he used to put up, basically from year two to year seven.Just a total, total freak.And then to ho - the ho -hum sort of Lakers trip on the back end, like I'm ho -humming it, but...He was the most mature version of himself.He clearly couldn't reach the highs that he did, but he still won a championship there in year two.

He resurrected that franchise.The one thing about LeBron James that you will always say he made each version of the stops that he was in.better for it by the time he left.Cleveland became a spot that you no longer forgot about.Miami became this sort of pseudo destination, and he resurrected the Los Angeles Lakers.You may not tie him to any one franchise, but all those franchises owe a debt of gratitude to him on the way out.

Hall of Fame level stint at each of these places was the best.Anybody wants to rip him and say he's not this guy or not that guy or he ain't this or he ain't that, I just want you to say that this is an actual conversation.Because he could have made the Hall of Fame with any of these four teams, with his time with any of these four teams.He arguably had four Hall of Fame careers already put together, okay?Let's just start with that.There is no debate on the number one, Vince, I'm sorry.

It's winning the championship in 2016 in Cleveland, period.It's not a debate.He would say this in half of a second, okay?Winning that championship where he went from being the biggest villain of his hometown ever to the biggest sports hero of his hometown ever, beating the 73 -win team and doing it in a legacy fashion the way he did with games five, six, and seven, the three, arguably three of the greatest performance, those three games, arguably the three best finals games of all time in a row.combining it with the career -defining moment of the block, which will be turned into a statue at some point.That's number one.

Big, bold line.After that, you can debate.I agree.I personally would have the Heat as second.I agree with you, Vinny.That was his athletic peak.

and what he did to overcome that, you know, the, you know, the heat holes and everything that was, I mean, that was incredible four -year period and where he became a champion and, you know, validated himself.Then he did win a championship with the Lakers.And the key thing about this, guys, when you think about LeBron's Lakers tenure, You have to understand, they had missed the playoffs for six straight years when he got there.They had six straight losing seasons.They were in the absolute tank.He rose them back up and put a star back on the court.

He got them a star on the court.And then the first, I mean, he had won two MVPs in his first time with the Cavs.He obviously was a very powerful force, but those years ended in failure.And so I can't put that anything but forth, even though I have great personal memories of those years.All right.

I would take that big bold line that Wendy has and I'm going to just put a just put a little eraser in it as quickly because I'm agreeing with Vinny in terms of the heat being at the top here.

Sorry, Wendy, because to me, because you're a Golden State supporter and you don't like the idea of putting the Golden State thing in there.Let's just let's just get that out right in front.

I don't know what you're talking about.Wendy.These are accusations.I don't know where these, where is it coming from for me though?It, I was going based on the best player that I saw more so than theramifications.

And for me, the Miami Heat, we're talking about that LeBron James, the gap between him... and everybody else in the league was never wider than when he was with that Miami Heat team.When you're looking at him and the things that he did, this dude jumped off the screen as the best player in the world during that heat time and two championships.You cannot argue with that.And that is also where LeBron James went from great player to champion.You're beating the Spurs.You're beating OKC.

He had the failure at the beginning and then you overcame that.That is an incredible feat.Then after that, I would definitely put that that Cleveland Cavaliers that second stint because that championship run but also what we do forget about that.There was a 2018 playoff run where LeBron James took that ragtag group to the finals where nobody expect him to do that.He dominated the entire Eastern Conference and basically shut down the Eastern Conference by himself.After that, this is where me and Vinny diverge a little bit.

I got to go with the Lakers because when you're talking about that first Cav stint, versus the Lakers, like the first cast in is we were seeing things we had never seen before.But the things he did with the Lakers, we are never going to see a player this old doing these things ever again.the way that he did.He won a championship with the Lakers in the way that we had never seen.This was not a ready -made franchise and he got there as you guys mentioned.This was not a good franchise and he brought a championship there broke Kareem's record there.

He is again.This is another Hall of Fame career with the Lakers and after that is the Cleveland LeBron never won a championship.ended kind of disgracefully and ended as bad as possible there, which was why you kind of put that at the bottom, but that would be my list.They're entitled to be wrong.It's okay.

All right.So on your list, I want to follow up with you on this because you have Heat, second Cav stint, first Cav stint.You've got the Lakers fourth.You did win a championship with the Lakers.How much of your thought processthere was that it was more than just the basketball with LeBron?

Because when he went out to Los Angeles, this was about LeBron, Inc.LeBron becoming the brand that he was as a basketball player, but expanding that into the entertainment space in ways that we didn't see when it was solely about basketball elsewhere.

No, I'm looking at it from the standpoint of those other three versions are so great.I don't look at this as a demerit for him, at least from my standpoint.Like, I don't look at the bubble necessarily as a demerit.I look at the way he was able to carry that franchise after the untimely death of Kobe Bryant.Like, I was in Philadelphia with LeBron when he passed Kobe on the all -time list.In the next day, Kobe Bryant passed.

Like, he was carrying the weight of that franchise in that moment.I don't give him a mark against that.I just think the athletic freak of the 22 -year -old who went to the NBA Finals, the two -time MVP, yeah, the Lakers weren't a great organization, but the Cavs were no gold standard of any damn thing when he showed up.He had to raise the standard of their...The Lakers knew of a standard.They couldn't get there.

The Cavs had Zero standard until he got there.