For most of the 2025-26 NBA season, media and fans speculated about LeBron James' next destination. Most signs always suggested he'd take his talents back home to finish his career where it all started.
Instead of joining Donovan Mitchell's Cleveland Cavaliers, he signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, a team he had no ties to, looking like a bad AI edit or a video game in his new jersey. Months later, James finally addressed the media as a member of his new team.
Judging by his words, it sounds like, unlike what he, his camp, and some insiders tried to make it seem, the Cavs were never a real possibility. Apparently, he had 'visions' of finishing his career with the New York Knicks.
LeBron James was never gonna sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers
“I had visions of playing in [Madison Square] Garden and finishing my career in the Garden,” James said (h/t ESPN). “One of the best places I’ve ever played. I think it’s the No. 1 arena in the world, as far as for a basketball player. But after they beat San Antonio, I was like, ‘Hey, I can’t.’ I couldn’t do it.”
This isn't the first time James has openly discussed his desire to play for the Knicks. In fact, he was reportedly pretty close to signing with them before the infamous Decision, with the Knicks' recruiting pitch including a video from The Sopranos' James Gandolfini.
So, why waste everyone's time again? Why agree to an in-person meeting with the Cavaliers? Why keep the team on hold all through the offseason, just to sign with another team at the eleventh hour? It just doesn't feel right.
The Cavaliers' fan base — or at least most of it — stuck with him through thick and thin. Even if he wasn't going to play for the team again, the fan base deserved better from the greatest player in franchise history. At least some common courtesy: a heads-up so they can adjust accordingly, pivot, and build their roster around other players.
James will live in New York and play in Philadelphia. Also, it doesn't sound coincidental that he'll leave plenty of money on the table to play in the City of Brotherly Love, the biggest underdog to sign him, right as he announces a partnership with Polymarket.
He will always have fans in Cleveland, and some Cavaliers fans will continue to root for him regardless of where he plays. He's earned that, and there's just no way to argue that he's earned the right to end his career on his own terms.
But, again, this isn't even about him joining yet another superteam and calling it a career with a team he had no single tie to. It's about how he handled the situation and how he may have played with the fan base's feelings (again).
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