The Deep 3 Podcast - LeBron James Finally Made His Decision

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

LeBron James Is a Philadelphia 76er   Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/   Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW   Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794   Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree   Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/   Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg   Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_   Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LeBron! News is finally here. After a long, 14-day marathon of us getting tiny little bits of news here and there. He's thinking about this. He's thinking about that. He kind of wants to go home. He kind of wants to play with Steph. He kind of wants to win a championship.

He kind of wants to go where his daughter wants to go. We finally have news. LeBron James is a member for the Philadelphia 76 years. Beesoles, your officer up. And it's stuck. I'm not going to lie. It's up and it stuck. Nick's got a ring.

You know? the heat got yannis the sixers already got jb now to get our biggest all-time op don't worry about that you have paul george and you go and you go and no one could ever take that from you especially not the bucks brice Stevens won't let you take that away you never let it happen someone actually did try to take it away

he was like nah be good off of that oh I'm so happy I can stop writing tally marks on my while at home counting the hours of how long is taking lebron to make this decision this time. Finally. It's finally here. And, ma'am, what is there to say other than this is an interesting choice?

Nevertheless, we can talk about whether we like the basketball fit, whether we like the narrative arc of LeBron James' career ending in Philadelphia, opposed to Golden State, Miami, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lakers, Lakers relative to before a month ago we decided not to. We can talk about all that up and down. The one thing that is for certain, the most talked about man in sports went to one of the most talked about fan bases and teams. that get talked about whether they're good, mid, great, anything in between. This will be interesting at the least.

There is so much to dive into. I think off top, honestly, I do have to say, because I feel like throughout this entire process, been waiting and he's like, is LeBron going to ring chases? He's going to do this, do that? This is not ring chasing. You don't think so. I think running to play with Joelle and Bede is actively running towards the grind. And I think that going to play for the Sixers,

who have one of the most tortured fan bases, a fan base that has been to the finals one time in the last like 40-something years, has not been to the conference finals during the entire process. You got it, Brian. You got it, Brian. You dug the ring-chasing allegations.

I think it's ring-chasing, and we can talk about why, because he put out a whole paragraph explaining why it's ring-chasing on his Twitter, but I will say, for what you just described, it's noble ring-chasing.

Because I don't think... Yeah, it's ethical. It's ethical ring-chasing for sure. But ring-chasing has its negative connotation. He described, it in his own words on his Twitter account be so as you can pull it up we can read through the long explanation he essentially said that when the season ended he was ready to retire that final playoff game gets a living by the thunder he went to the locker room he thought

I'm done I'm satisfied of my story we'll see how I explain it to the media when I'm comfortable saying it but I'm done he soul search over the last month and he said he decided he wanted to try it with one more championship that he said this wasn't about money this wasn't about city it wasn't about anything other than being in the pursuit of championship, being the pursuit of excellence every single day waking up feeling like I can put my best foot forward trying to accomplish a goal with a team that believes in the same vision I believe in. That's ring chasing. Now, maybe it's for good reason, right? But he wants to win. But I don't think this team is a shoeing to win the Eastern Conference. Like some people might say when they first see that starting lineup

of four stars in VJ Combe, who might be a star in the making. This is still an imperfect team that has plenty of question marks. Like you mentioned, Joelle and B doesn't play a whole lot. we'll get into other question marks we have with the fit of this lineup. I think it's a good mix of ring chasing, putting yourself in a position to succeed with younger stars and you that can carry weight, while also going to a team that is imperfect in ways that you alone could hopefully be the missing piece to fix. And that's why, like I think ring chasing is, I would have classified as ring chasing if you went to the Knicks, if you went to San Antonio, you went to OKC, right? Outside of that, everybody else, because of all the imperfections that you just laid out, I think it was it's pretty pretty fair game and it's like it you don't necessarily get that get that label

I do think that for the sixers probably this does solidify them in in the upper half of the eastern conference for me over half we shame higher than that right you should but like I think even when they just got got jalen brown I was high on them but I could see a world with like they still are the five seed okay now that you have lebron that's not an option that's that's not something that that should happen we should be talking about potentially winning the conference we should be that should that should be their aim i think that they probably are like two or three maybe in that range i'd still have the nix one yeah i'm very high on indiana right now and the prospect of of haliburton coming back taking the whole year

off doing all that stuff so they they should be one of the favorites to come out out the east be soles are you shaking in your fucking boots right now that the jb and tatum breakup obviously going in different directions both have a squad that you probably feel good not great about and now the one that you're rooting against against, is LeBron James. Do you feel like there's a chance that we look up next year and we say, damn, Jalen was right? I'm not going to lie. It's not more so scared. It's more so

just pissed. It's more so just annoyed because we helped this happen. You know what I'm saying? Directly trading Jalen Brown to them. There's even reports saying LeBron wouldn't have signed with them. You know, the Philly became more of an option

after they got Jalen Brown. There's more so of an anger thing. but I'm not going to lie. I've always had this belief that the Celtics perform best when they have underdog expectations. Roll the ball out, man. Let's see what happens. Okay.

Let's see what happens. Tatum. It's time to put that backpack on, man. I want to see Backpack Tatum. Fair. Yeah, and on the Sixth part, I agree. When this move happened when they got Jalen Brown,

we talked about it when we graded every team, and I was more pessimistic than most people. I didn't say the team's garbage or anything, but I wasn't over the moon is automatically makes them a contender. Like, you know, when we say contender, like a lot of teams that are getting that word thrown around a lot. But when I say contender, I mean true contender.

Like, I can say when I get to February, I list of teams that I will say can realistically win, and I say Oklahoma City, I say San Antonio, I say New York. Am I adding your name into there? Or am I doing some cute second tier after where I say, if things break right for them, they can for most teams? The Sixers weren't in that top tier for me, just because they got Jaylon Brown. Just because they upgraded Paul George to Jaylon Brown. I thought the team, starting five with Dean Wade at Power Forward, next to Maxi, VJ, Jalen,

and presumably Joeline B, when he's healthy. Lack the playmaking talent for me to feel like they can be a top-tier offense. Lack the size and rebounding for me to feel like they can consistently win the turnover battle and have that defensive floor and hopefully offensive rebounding advantage that most modern offenses are trying to equip themselves for. I didn't feel like they had that. Defensively, I have concerns because Jalen Brown's your best permanent defender, but ideally he's going to be like a 28 point per game score since he probably wants to do that.

So do you want to put that on him? Then VG Edgecombe has to be an elite defender because you don't have a lot of size and Joelle and Bede in and out. Like there's just, there's a lot of fit stuff that I felt like really clouded my idea of them despite the star power.

LeBron doesn't fix all of that. Fixes about two of those three things though. This changes a lot for me. I'm much more open to the idea of them being a really, really great team now. Yeah, there's still fit concerns. But it is, the concerns are like the concerns of every other elite team now

where it's like, yeah, there's flaws, but there's so much talent. here and the fit does make enough sense to be like, yeah, I'm not going to lie. LeBron's on another super team, man. How much health does this guy need? Jendez pushed.

My God! I will say, everywhere he goes. Everywhere. Come on. Every time. Flaws are still present. Everything I described is kind of still there. I'm going to write that down.

Let's go. Well, LeBron helps the playmaking. He helps their rebounding, obviously, right? All those things are still true. I still won't say they're my favorite to beat the Knicks for anything. that. I still won't say they're on the level of those top two teams out West. But I can approach it with some optimism now. I can sell myself. Before, if they didn't get him and it was just that Dean Wade configuration of the team, there is going to be no scenario in which we come into the

season. And I'm like, yeah, Sixers can do it. I feel as good as the masses do. I was always going to be, yeah, I guess I'm the fucking hater of Jaylon Brown, I guess. I guess I got to wear that crown because I think the Sixers are a little overrated. Now I can sell myself on there being a ceiling that there wasn't before. Yeah, the ceiling is definitely much, much higher. I do think that they are a legitimate threat to the Knicks now. And like this last year, we got the one week where Joelle and B was healthy in the playoffs. And they came back from 3-1. I think what you are going with all of Sixers fans and the entire team is going to tell them is,

if that week happens, you know, three weeks later, we can get to the finals. Like now I think you do have enough to sustain a first-round matchup. in a three six to get out the first round and get to the second round. I think even if you do that, now if you're playing in the second round, like if you're playing the Cavs in the second round, I feel so good about the prospect of the Sixers going up against Cleveland or going up against Detroit.

And, you know, if Orlando figures some things out, Philly is right there. And I feel really, really good about them. There's also another indication, like they had everybody on the board. them clutch guys man they be staying together good for them you know they they be they run it but I think

I think for for Philly having LeBron and having his ability to playmate I do I do like it because now you don't have to I think everybody does have to become a better playmaker because you do have to get some level of like just overall

consistency but you don't need a massive leap from like Tyrese maxi or you don't need a massive leap from Jalen as playmakers because you do have LeBron there who can obviously still do some facilitating and it does take a lot of pressure off of those two guys. So this is very, very good for them. You mentioned a clutch thing. What's their future draft outlook look like?

I think they have access to trading like three first on picks still despite trading two for Paul George. If I'm looking correctly, I think they can still send at least two. Bagdorne and B. Imagine if it's Embed and picks for AD to get up that contract. I'm just talking obviously. Not shit to think that's a real possibility, but like it has occurred to me that can you imagine if this became Clutch Island in Philadelphia? Clutch Island.

I'd be sick. Clutch Villa. Clutch Villa. But yeah. You're right. Everything you mentioned about the team and the outlook, still clunky, say the least. But no matter what, clunkiness be damned. If you can get LeBron James for $4 million, that changes everything.

They are the best team in the East to me. I will say I personally will put that pressure on them, right? Of course you will because you have a dance to push. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they are the best team. They have championship or bust expectations. If they don't win a championship, if Embed, yo, I will say this. If Embedd doesn't get out the second round.

With this squad, yeah. He got Jalen Brown and LeBron Jameson. Come on, bro. So listen. A lot of things can be said about Inbe's career and how injuries have robbed him, injuries from his teammates have robbed him, the eras of the process have fallen apart in extremely unlucky ways. The 76ers feel like they've been curate.

perched by every Greek of God imaginable. That man's had a lot of star names next to him over the years, and this makes it crazy. No, LeBron, you look at the list of all his teammates, it's crazy. It's like, Jordan could never have this type of help. On paper, Joel InBeat's teammate list is like an all-time franchise. And Beade, Hardin, Westbrook,

all three of them have had just crazy names next to him. Yeah, I agree with you. Obviously, you do have to get to the conference finals. It's like that's a bare minimum. I see why you say that in terms of names. You do have to though. Like off of talent alone. Yeah, in the same way that like the Celtics have to.

Everybody has to. That's the goal. I don't know that immediately I say it's a guarantee in terms of how good I think they are. If you tell me that they're the third best team and they end up losing a amazingly fought second round exit and don't make the champion conference championship, I'll believe you. And that won't be a huge departure from my expectations for the team, I think. just because the team is good, obviously. I'm not here to say anything

other than they're a very good team that's in that, like I said, second-tier contenders. I like that they can play through their bigs of Joelle and Bede and LeBron James' passing hubs. That's an interesting wrinkle because Jalen Brown,

Maxie and presumably VJ with the second year leap are all very good off-ball players. I suspect they'll also want to be on-ball players. And there's that meshing of talent there, I suspect that LeBron after last year when he clearly didn't love being the third fiddle next to Luca and Reeves. Maybe it's different now

if he can choose on his own accord. Maybe he feels the ownership of that role rather than we shipped out your best friend AD. Lucas here, now you have to be a third fiddle. Maybe that is a part that bothered him. But I suspect they want to do some more on Ball LeBron stuff. Obviously Jaylon Brown, we have that feeling in the air that he wants to be a superstar. We obviously

want the ball on Tyrese's hand. Like, I'm not saying this can't be figured out. I'm saying that there's enough questions there. Plus, Joel and B. coming in out of the lineup, you want to put the ball in his hands because he's not the crazy off all player anymore. I don't think they're guaranteed to be a top tier offense, at least not right away, because they got to figure all that out.

And it's just clunky. And there's a ceiling of if everything gets meshed perfectly, they could be unstoppable. But I think there's going to be some up and downs figuring that role configuration out. That is one of the main things I'm very interested in seeing is how Nick Nurse figures this out. Because like when they signed him. I can do a damn thing. It's been a few years since I was happy with something Nick Nurse figured out.

That's what I'm saying. When they signed him, everyone was very high on the signing. You know, he won with the Raptors are getting a championship level coach to stand the third. His stock has been down over the last couple of years. Partially is due to like the roster construction. I don't think you can get away with the roster construction

excuse this time around. No, no, he can't. And I think even to, so to that point of Brown playing like third fiddle, yes, there are like Maxie and Jalen Brown are here. Luca plays a very, very specific kind of basketball that is much different. obviously than what maxi can do and what and what jalen brown can do so even if those two other guys are the first option have this high usage they can still have that usage in a way that is not

i'm going to dribble for 25 percent or not for 25 seconds you know of the 24 second shot clock and dominate everything and make all the reads myself and everybody's just waiting on my on my command at every single option like i there will be more movement here and more opportunity for brown to have a more say so I guess. Yeah, no, impact on the game. Yeah, on a play to play basis. So that I feel a little bit better on like a third fiddle. If he is playing that wrong.

To be fair. There's Embed there. There's another fiddle. Don't give you the fourth one. You understand why I don't give a damn, but also because he's not, he's only going to play 45 games a year. 45 games with the bronze and fourth fiddle. Actually, that makes it worse because now we've got to figure out whether you're the

third or fourth on different nights. Like that's also more awkward. I think with Braun and with Jalen Brown, both of them clearly, like the situation that they were in wasn't the most optimal for how they were, how they were feeling and things have happened to where they may not have felt as valued by the franchise as possible. I think coming into this new situation, you can look at them and both of them say, I'm cool because clearly the Sixers want, like they want me here. I know that I'm valued. and I feel more comfortable sacrificing, you know, on any given night because I look around. I have all these, all these other guys. Good point.

You know? And so they might be okay. It's going to be better than J.B. in Boston and LeB. in Boston and LeB. in LeBron in L.A. Yeah, good psychological analysis that being, again, like I mentioned with LeBron, being forced into being deprioritized is different than choosing a role where you know you're going to be deprioritized. He has agency.

Yeah. And even Jaylon Brown didn't choose it necessarily. A fresh start. changes a lot. Having a different face in there where you're not seeing Brad Stevens who you're annoyed at, seeing Missoula who you're probably annoyed at. Tatum, you probably aren't annoyed at him, which you feel some type of internal feelings that you can't help, right? Like all those things are gone. It's a fresh slate that even if you're once again back to square zero where you feel, you know, it's not, I'm not taking all the shots I'd want to take. It's fine because

you have newness. Nunes makes everything feel good. You can go to a job that you end up hating just as much you did your previous job. The first few weeks where shit feels new, it's going to be a little different in your head. He's also four million dollars a year. basically playing for free. Yeah. Because again, it's really only like 30,000 after taxes. Right, right. This is bonus.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's only, listen, the eight turns into four a year. Cut the end is in a half. He's got to pay everybody. He's playing for free. And I think whenever you are playing for free, you understand and you have this openness and this freedom

about the situation that you're in. Yeah. So I do feel very good about LeBron stepping in and everything being la-di-da. Oh, real quick, we should say, we're recording this, obviously, Friday, July 24th. On July 23rd and 22nd, two days ago, the past two days, we recorded next week's episode, the Small Forward Power Rankings, and the Fallen Weeks episode, the Power Rankings. We record those ahead of time because we are all going on vacation tomorrow, actually, on Saturday.

So you will hear conversations about LeBron, about the six years, about teams that might have got them, the Cavs, who were obviously presumed favorites. It's going to be strange every the next couple weeks. You hear a lot of talk that was before the LeBron James decision that now changes everything. But so just keep that in mind that the schedule fucked us a little bit. I'm so glad he didn't go to Cleveland. I'm so glad he didn't go to Miami. Okay, talk about that.

It's all about all the teams that didn't get him. First off, Cleveland. Obviously, everyone thought he was going to go home. He was in the air. There's a lot of reasons to assume that connection would happen. One, how do you feel that it didn't? You said you're so glad. What do they do now?

Cleveland, you're committed to, you're committed to James Hardin. You're committed to DeMitch and to Mowbly. and the one move that we've been saying for them, which is trade Jared Allen and see if you can get some more flexibility in the lineup, that's probably the only thing that you can do. From a LeBron standpoint, I'm just happy that he didn't go back there

because I think the second time that he goes back, you got the ring, that story is finished, and it is very, it's a very clean ending for how it went, for how it went down. And him going back the first time was, I'm doing this in spite of everything that Dan Gilbert did. I'm doing you a favor by putting that to the side and making sure that I accomplished my goal of getting Cleveland a championship. I've done my job.

I'm not going to do you two favors. And I'm not going to do you. Really, I'm not going to do you three favors because one, I'm not coming back in general. And two, I'm not coming back for the cheap. Right. Like if you, if you were going to give me, I'm not coming back to Cleveland for the minimum. You're going to have to pay me. And so I'm glad he didn't, you know, drop to any one of those or drop any one of those standards to go to Cleveland.

and for Miami, you've been beaving with Pat Riley for like 14 years and this, or 12 years, whatever. This roster is still incomplete. I think that would have been interesting. It would have been more interesting, in my opinion, than Cleveland, but it also would have been more clunky than Cleveland with Bam and with Janice. And I don't think that they would have had the ceiling of Philly right now. So just the overall possibilities of what could happen with LeBron in these last two years. I like that that is now on the table where with the other two spots, it probably wouldn't have been. Even, yeah, even with Golden State, maybe if they had gotten AD, then that could have been real fun.

That's the only world I wanted to see that, honestly. And you may have had a contender ceiling. But if it was just bronze, stuff, and that's it, it would have been like a 44-1 team. And both of them are hurt and pulling hamstrings and getting sciatica again. Just depressing. Yeah, it would have been bad. I'm not going to lie, I was ready for a last dance tour. I was definitely preparing myself, whether that was with Cleveland or Golden State of like, you know,

let's just solidify. There's going to be my last year. Let's go on a tour, man. Let's appreciate LeBron's last year. So he has a player option. Would you be surprised if, like, if AD gets moved and he doesn't play for the Wizards and he is on a different team, could you see him doing this one more time next year? No, he said in that tweet thread, like definitively, this is my last decision.

So I think either he'll play one year with the Sixers or two more years. However, I believe him honestly. I believe him. I 100% believe him. If you read the whole thread, like, yeah. Yeah, I haven't had a chance to go through it yet. Go through and read it while I'm talking, man. He said that I was prepared to retire.

Everything you thought, everything I said in that final press area where I said, I really don't know what I'm going to do. It was all true. I'll see. That was the most honest I've ever read words from LeBron that tweet thread. Like, I believe him. He said, I really, really did consider retiring. I'm explaining why I'm going to do this, why I think Philly makes sense because of this, not about money, not about anything other than trying to win.

This will be my last decision. I'm trying to win one more great fan base of championship. It sounds to me like a man who doesn't want to go through this again, who was happy to have this feeling of ownership of his journey that maybe he hasn't felt like he's had in a few years for whatever reason, right? But it also sounds like somebody who's like, yeah, man, I'm not doing this again. This was fun, but kind of exhausting. He's funny too, though.

He's going to get to 25. Yeah, I think two years could make sense. I think if I'm just reading the tea leaves of what LeBron James has told us and what we know about LeBron, I would expect two years unless this year he's mega-washed or the team really sucks and it's like not a fun time that it's not worth it to come back again

because I do believe that he understands that putting on this new team jersey at the end very much could be a Celtic shack look, very much could be a wizard's Jordan look. In fact, it's guaranteed to be a wizard's Jordan look in some way. But a wizard's Jordan look could be cool if you can actually win a championship with the Wizards, right? So that's the goal is that he can do that there. I think he's extremely aware

He'd look fucking nuts if he had a six-year jersey on in year 24 and then a Bulls jersey on or whatever in season 25. That would be nasty as hell to be one of the greatest players of all time

and have two nasty jersey heroes. I'm sure he's keenly aware of his own storytelling and is like this is my one bit. The only way I can see this being his last year is if they won a championship.

Like I think going to Philly winning a championship and going out on top would be a really cool story. I just can't see him like being bounced out in the second round or even in the conference finals with a new team.

You know, this is a team that you don't really have like strong history with as well. And being like, yeah, I'm out of here. Peace. Without like a, yeah, this is my final year type thing. Okay. And we still could get that, honestly. Actually, no, I think you're right. With the two-year deal, he's probably, he's leaving the opportunity open and to get real close to championship.

Probably one more time. So we probably won't get a, this is my last year thing. Yeah. Yeah. Two more things. One, hey, Draymond gave up for that money. I think that's very interesting. One, no.

Whenever he had opted out, we had all, like, assume, like, oh, you know, he's opting out so that Brown can get in. And, you know, you can sign another deal. I just think that that's funny right now. Yeah, but he didn't give him anything. They're still going to pay him. Yeah. He had to fallback because they have his bird rights. He could still get the same money.

And then two. But, sorry. Go ahead. He's not going to lose money. He was doing a lot. He was saying a lot. So I'm saying. He was really, really campaigning.

He really went for it. He didn't lose money. He did lose, what's the word? Not to say, like, it wasn't bad to campaign for LeBron or anything. But he lost a lot of energy exerted trying to get LeBron. And it definitely looks away. And now you don't get LeBron. You're like, damn.

That was an aura gamble. You lost. He lost some more. Two. I feel like it's basically confirmed now. Or the heaviest assumption. Nick Sixers will open the season. O'Neck, yeah.

I think the first game We're going? We're going? You think it'll be in the garden? Yeah, because they'll have ring night. True, oh, true, true. Let's go. Let's pull up.

Okay. Just be in the crowd. Oh, hey, yeah. It's going to be cinema. It's going to be fantastic. Can't wait. I'm just imagining it now. Like, damn, it's going to be a pretty goddamn cool event.

It's going to be a three-one lead. They circle back with LeBron and Jalen Brown. Yeah. Yeah, got swept. And they said, okay, okay. Got swept. They got their ass circle back with the Avengers. We got reinforcements.

Bro. The Eastern Conference is going to be so fun. And we got drumming. And we started drumming on the other side. Yeah, man. It should be, again, it's very fun. There's so many wrinkles to this, man. Like, I'm not even, like, I'm not super hyped for the team, but I'm super hyped

with the storylines that come along with it. Yeah. The circus that comes along with Philadelphia and them having the center of the NBA universe on them. Do you think, I mean, you're not hype for the team. What should we expect? I think like 55 wins is in play. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah, anywhere from 55, potentially even.

65? If Embeddead was like a healthy basketball player, I would say 65. Yeah, if it was like MVP level still, then I'd be like, whole shit. This is like 68 win team maybe, but the MB thing is. I said not hype. I shouldn't use that phrasing. I'm like, I'm excited to see this as everybody else is. To your point, I'm not going to be like,

juggernaut just came 64 wins let the knicks know shit was cute when they were there but now we have a new juggernaut like i'm not gonna go crazy about the formation of a super team but i mean i have a healthy optimism and a healthy interest and watch we do have to decide right now for the for the rest of the year are we calling this a super team yes or no i am you are out of out of hate and i respect that yeah but like realistically are so what they have are we actually doing that they have the 15th best player in the league and let's say 15th and six If we think Maxie and Jaylen Brown are both in that tier of like obviously elite players, but not top 10, then LeBron's like 40 right now at the lowest. At the lowest, like, let's say he's 30. Like whatever we feel like old man LeBron is, Jwell and even healthy, 45, I don't know, like kind of super teamish. The fact that you have four of those guys. If you tell me Vijay Edgecombe is a top 50 player next year, okay, I guess. That's probably doing a bit much, but possible.

Like, it's not the super team of old Where it's like three of the top guys But that's a lot of talent That's more, again, if we're just gauging Where you rank relative to the league It's more than the Knicks Do they have a top five player In every position outside of like

The shooting guard? Okay, so if we're putting LeBron A Power Forward now, which we did our rankings We put him a small forward because he's LeBron And he's Mr. Small Forward Probably a top five power forward, right? Yeah Jaylon Brown is a top five small forward

Who's my fifth power forward? I forgot. Oh, like Evan Mobley was in those talks probably better than every mobile I guess that's fair I mean whatever whatever you can argue that I don't care

every mobile man Lock in bro You can argue that for sure In Beed's probably not a top five center right now Because of the health element But when he's on the court Yeah he's definitely fifth Because like Chet isn't in combo for fifth

He's not top five just purely off of health Yeah but at his peak When they're all 100% healthy He's smoking Chet still So fifth best Maxi do we put him top five in point guard list No No.

No, but it's only because like the point guard position is so stacked. Yeah. He's still like a 29 more. He's like six or seven. He's like six or seven. Yeah. Shooting guard is only thing. Can VJ.

Edgecom become a top five shooting guard next year? I don't think he needs to for them to be considered a super chance. I know, but to your question about the top five and everything. He would, he's the question mark. So I think maybe and it's like, it's no obviously like slight to braunt. Without Brown, maybe VJ would have had the room to grow a little bit more. I don't think he's going to necessarily have that opportunity to, to be more on ball. But I think the strengths of VJ are going to be really, really highlighted.

Because one of my favorite things about VJKome is that even if the shot is a falling, he's still super impactful in every other way. And he's a really good rebounder for his size. He can playmate. He's really active with steals and blocks and stuff like that. He can probably average, like, I honestly like 13. this year and but i think we're we're gonna look up and he's like on-off numbers are gonna be insane i i think that's the that's the way that vj is going to get better this year not but not by

statistical just like points per game yeah which is honestly people are gonna say rip vjj edge combs development curve and all the stuff like that i don't think that's too bad if you've got to be a role player for one maybe two more years of lebron then you get to be about 23 24 years old you can grow into being the next guy it's kind of the maxi timeline as well exactly Exactly. Maybe Embedd's done by then. We'll see where his contract situation is like with that point of his body he's at that point. He can take his time growing into being the second star, quote unquote, next to Maxie and Jalen Brown, assuming they're there for like four years, which I guess in today's NBA is not a guarantee at all. Everyone moves around every few years. But assuming those two are the nucleus, post-Lebron and post-imede, Maxie can, I mean, Edgecombe can slowly grow into being a third star. Yeah. So this, if he ever even is that. And now if he's not that, cool, it's not that big of a deal. Yeah. But I do, yeah, I don't mind this. developmental path for for vj i yeah i'd say right now they probably should win like 57 games that's fair the mbid health thing i just don't know like if i think even i mean even without mbid

yeah it's it's i think i think they can they can still get there yeah and i have to i have to look at at their at their cap ch and see like what what's still available like is there another move that they have because they trade for brunny they do have to listen they have a million guards too which is part of the reason why even coming into this decision it's kind of shaky around the sixers could you have simons you you have uh i forgot to have right you have phylon you have all these all these are these you know bucket getters but do you have anybody else now dean way coming off the bench makes a little bit more sense yes that that's nice to help there have their depth for sure I didn't even think about that.

Yeah. If Justin Edwards and Dean Wade is your window off the bench, Simonson, Phylon, Denbona, and Hookporty as your bigs. Dominic Barlow is a small ball center, power forward body there. Now that you mention the bench, they got to be a super team. They got to. Right. Their bench is a lot of, oh, yeah, I like that guy.

But I'm not sure. I mean, it's a lot of guys that know their names. I don't know if anybody loves those guys. Like, we just talked on our shooting guard episode about why we don't love Simons these days. I like Phylon if you can be good as a rookie You get's a lot of pressure on a rookie guard He's a lot of scorer at a high level Yeah, it's safe for do assume he needs a year before he's anything

Than it is to assume he's an impact guy And like shout out Bonin Edwards I know those names like it's not like I'm like Six men of the year But Dean Wade is a nice bench for sure I am higher on Simons than y'all He was cooking for us last year It's because you missed Simons over Vooch

Which I agree with you I think that he would have been better than Vooch For the Celtics in the playoffs But with when you have when when when you're starting back court is maxi and in VJ and now you try to you know mix a match and give people rest What is what is Simon's going to do like you you continue to just have These guards that are either smaller or can get picked on defensively and I'm I Would not be shocked in the least if we get to the second round and it's like a game six and simons can't play

not that I will not be shocked I will actively predict that yeah I think that is very very very very very very likely so that's the that's the that's the that's the thing with their bench so they're probably from being tier one just because of also how good how good san Antonio is okay C right the nix with everything that they just proved they're one either like really big wing or another just straight up big away from jumping into that conversation but they're at the top of tier two with some distance compared to the rest of the people in that tier. So we should assume that we should hold this team to the standard of being the second best team in the Eastern Conference.

Yes. Even if Kauai goes to the Raptors. Yes. Okay. Even if Zubach and Tyrese Halliburton is 100% for the Pacers. That's the one where they can go back and forth. They're interchangeable. 76ers versus Celtics.

Even if Paul George is what we think it can be is the best version. They should be better. They should better in the Celtics. Yes. They should beat us. They should. They should. Obviously, you're right, like on paper. Like they should.

I won't be shocked if we look up in the Celtics here, second seat again. Which isn't a testament. It's nothing to do with the 76 years. This is about the Celtics being better than we think still and trusting Musula, at least in a regular season sense. And Jason Tatum getting closer to 100%. Paul George giving one more good year. I won't be shocked at the Celtics of the two seed.

Yeah, I mean, even last year. I'm excited for Tatum, though. Me too. You're not for the whole team. I like that team still. I'm just, I'm ready for him to have that opportunity. Yeah. To come through.

And it is just so funny that Jaylon got to do it one year and then he's gone and now Jason Tatum you know comes back yeah and mr. Robinson edition matters like they have real big man depth i'm gonna miss him more shots for paying pictured again derrick white hopefully bounced back i'm so excited to see high usage tatum yeah all those young men all those young wings another year jordan waltz got got to put on a scam contract couple days ago he's here for to stay he's playing for free too you know hugo's gonna be a superstar yes bill simmons so like yeah you have that third fiddle yeah that whole northeast division because we're going to see Philly,

Philly Boston four times. Like all those teams are going to play each other four times. That's going to be sick. Yeah, because that's the Atlantic Division, right? Yeah. And you have the Raptors in there too. Oh, yeah. And then the Nets.

And then the Nets just, just playing the Rossi. Yeah, Gorg, Demon. Randall and PJ. Yeah, I still think the Sixers can be in their caliber. I mean, the Celtics can be in their caliber, but that's more about me being high in the Celtics. Sixers could obviously be. better that won't be surprising pistons you're going to write them off right now right now they

don't have a they don't have a full team and i i'm not going to i'm not going to fully speak on where i think that they're going to be at until the durn things gets gets resolved but right now it's not looking good you're not mentioned miami and all this oh yeah yeah yannis and bannes and bannes with a with the best coach in the league they're obviously going to be better than people good job yonis yeah everyone scoffs at their depth chart right now but they're obviously going to be a very good team they Janice and the best coach in the league. LeBron, this is not the same East that you left. Shit is not slight.

It's not sweet. You're not the best player at all in that conference anymore. I'm tired of that weak East. Ah, man. I'm glad we can solidify going into season. The East is not weak for once. You know, this isn't a victory left. The East got better.

Yeah. It's actually, I think it is better. Than the West? Than the West? Top down, I guess so. Yeah, I guess like 3 to 7, 3, 2, 8. Yeah. Yeah.

We got to compare that side by side. If Kauai goes to the Raptors especially, then yeah, man, that shit's filthy. Orlando, Atlanta being your 9 and 10? That's solid. That's good. In the West, what's going to be 9-10 in the West? The Jazz?

The Jazz, the Suns. Oh, brother. The Warriors? The Blazers. Blazers, the Warriors. I mean, we're naming a lot of good teams, too. So honestly, the age of parity is here. They want the second.

The second neighbor is working. There isn't a single team in the second apron this year, assuming the Nuggets get out of it. That leads us to us. spread out players that leads to spread out teams and then look at this we're talking about 10 good teams in both divisions that's not on accident i did want to ask you about miami because of the leaks that happened a couple days ago like did that play in d y'all let's theorize you do y'all think that played a part in this at all was that just a purely social media mistake yeah i mean

so they said because to what you're referencing they put out a youtube unlisted scheduled video for lebron james uh press announcement that was going to be on the 27th of July. They said it was, they were listing that as a precaution to prepare just in case he chose them. I don't understand why a social media manager would do that. Why you would feel the need to schedule that with a placeholder date just in case, unless he was really close to indicating he would choose you. So that my alarm bells went up for sure.

I was like, oh, wow, this is actually going to be the thing that leaks he's going to the heat? Yeah. They said it was just that, just precaution. Weird, but I guess that's possible. I don't really know if LeBron would let that change his mind honestly. I don't think he's letting the social media people and their fuck up dictate his life at age 41. Or is that what he wants you to think? The other thing that you can take from this, maybe, because maybe he's still, Loki has beef with the heap.

Leaked it. Drolled him. Right? He wanted to see if they are trustworthy. And then all of a sudden the thing gets, you know, got leaked out and he's like, I can't, I can't go back. It was all just a It was an elaborate plan Some Kendrick Drake You got snakes in your camp type thing

Yeah he just had to know He had to know what he was getting Back into it feels okay to double back It wasn't it wasn't okay That'd be hilarious Damn Listen that's good fan fiction That's good writing

That is good writing That is good writing That's good writing It's that time sam song That version Wow Yeah Apparently they're looking for a

You direct a view to shut out of jac. Yeah, anybody at home apply, I'll write you a reference letter. Any cranieders on work for the heat? I got you. I'll vouch for you. Oh, man, yeah.

Both conferences, stack now. LeBron James in a major market. Is there any part of this we haven't touched on we got to talk about? Warriors don't get their unction. Yeah. It's time to get hype up yoxel. Kaz, welcome back James Hardin,

giving that $40 million a year. year. All of that is sad and depressing. Miami starting Tim Hardaway, Jr. They got a running back with Jared Allen, right? The cabs. They don't have to.

They don't have to do, right? Again, they were poorly linked to Kaminga as a fallback plan. And maybe that was Kamiga's agent doing it as a play. Or maybe they're going to trade Jared Allen and start Kaminga and try to have elite defender, Kaminga Mowgli.

Speaking of fallback plans, the Miami Heat, this is their fallback plan? Clay Thompson and DeMardoza now. Per who? per Legion hoops For no He's giving his own opinions I think he's actually

Yeah His opinions suck Keep aggregating buddy Shut up and aggregate Shut up and aggregate That is crazy My bet No source

Per Legion hoops Fuck out of my face It really was Sources do trust me It's so funny That account whoever runs It has like Add his own personality to it

where he'll just like, something will happen and he'll just be like, disgusting, it's mad regular. He's just rage baiting. I think he's a Philly fan actually. You'd be shitting on the Celtics a lot.

Come on, lead your hoops. Just be bipartisan here, man. Let's be neutral. Everybody would be objective. Yeah. Yeah. That might be it.

I am, I am shocked, though, that, because even though we knew that Philly was in play, It is kind of crazy, like, that Philly ended up being the destination. Yeah, yeah, it is crazy. You really talk about that.

Obviously, that was in the leaks of, like, the teams is considering. I personally was always like, what is he really going to put himself in the Joelle and B sweepstakes? Like, is that really going to be somebody that he lashes himself onto? I guess now that we know he did it and we're looking in hindsight, I guess it makes sense to me that LeBron James would be like, and Joel is nice. All he's got to do is stay on the court and, like, not hold it against him, you know?

That's a very fan, like, GM-brained thing to do to be like, Joel and Bede's a negative, you know? I guess I can understand where he's like, there's a lot of buckets. Joel Bede B's a problem. If we can be on the court together, we're unstoppable. He played with him two years ago in the Olympics. Yeah, I guess I can understand why he didn't hold his body against him. Why, as a player, he has a perspective of compassion and understanding,

and that probably leads to, like, dismissal of the issue in his head. Maybe he also is very, maybe he's also very aware of the issue there. And he said it's still worth it because Jalen Brown and Maxi give that floor. Maybe he's also like, fuck, Joel stay healthy. But I can understand why maybe that wouldn't matter to him quite as much. with us. In terms of having a chance to win, when you think about going between Cleveland or Philly

and again, like, Embed stuff is mainly injury, I think I would maybe rather do that than go be like, yeah, my last two years, if I want to win, I need James Hardin to come through for me. Yeah, fair. And so it probably is like even the team outside of Mbid, you still have Maxie and Jalen Brown. You still have so much that you can believe in and trust going into a playoff series. And it's easier to backdoor dwell in beat for Anthony Davis and it is Evan Mowgli.

A hundred percent is. But if Anthony Davis is wearing Philly jerseys next month, then we'll understand the vision. Yeah. You think he also just like the Philly jerseys? And he's like, yeah, I want to wear that. Oh, I think he actually just likes Philadelphia too. And I'm sure the part of it was I either go home to the fan base I've already won for and I feel that that job is finished in some regard.

Storybook ending, I could rehash that to retire or leave it be what it is. Or I go to Philly, who he reportedly heavily considered in 2018 when he chose the Lakers and goes to another fan base. We know he liked New York for the same reason. He clearly enjoys going to elite fan bases and trying to become like a franchise legend. He's a face of heat culture forever. Lakers, obviously Kobe fans made their life mission to make sure he doesn't feel validated. But when the dust settles, he is a Laker legend that brought him a championship.

Now we can do it for Philadelphia. I'm sure that is a fun challenge for him to kind of be a staple in, like, the greatest fan bases in sports. Do we feel like knowing his motivations now, assuming, you know, they're true, which, you know, they probably are? Yeah. Do we feel like the Minnesota thing had more legs on it in terms of, like, you know, like just on paper? They would actually be like a God squad? Maybe. I think the fan base thing I disillined might be the deciding factor that.

I think he likes the glamour of winning for Philly. No one gives a fuck about winning for Minnesota. Yeah. That might be the difference maker there. There's a report from the athletics Minnesota Timberwell's reporter. I forget his name. John something was a really long last name. Krasinski.

Krasinski. He's very good. He said that LeBron James reportedly asked Anthony Edwards what would happen if he didn't join him in Minnesota. Ant reportedly said he'd be okay because he's going to tear LeBron's head off every time they play each other. Which is a very ant response. I 100% believe this report. Good friend. So to your point.

If it's true on LeBron asking this, clearly LeBron was considering Minnesota Timberwolves. And I would assume pretty hard. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I would have rather seen that person. They as just as like the players I like to watch. Like, the idea of Lamello and LeBron really, really intrigues me as a fit. We're going to Bay on the back end.

Really, really intrigues me as a fit. And the six years are maybe equally as intriguing. I would have rather personally from my basketball taste seeing the Timber Rules. Now that Brown is in Philly, get ready. we're going to have a 2019 Drake situation with Kevin Hart at Sixers games he's going to be there all of his eyes

he's going to be there and they're going to bring them on to every single pregame show AI is going to be there a lot too yeah it's going to it's going to be star-study Gillian Wallow has the next name and there you go Philly is up

yeah man second big star in the city now behind Jalen Hertz yeah he got to get in long sorry lebron you're no jay hurts this is jaylandstown man and that is that lebron james is 76er

like i said we have two episodes coming out in the next two weeks that are recorded ahead of time so you will hear talk about these teams and about lebron that have nothing to do with reality now because lebron james did not choose the teams we mentioned so now you'll have some funny look back to the things we were thinking beforehand that ended up being clearly wrong which should be funny it's going to be good

in the power for its episode we had this whole talk about because obviously uh... Kaminga Mowbly all these guys that have some sort of connection to the LeBron decision we talked a lot about that there

it's going to be funny because I assume by the time that comes out in two weeks Camigo will have one to a different team so it's going to be real funny to see if he does go to the Cavs like we had theorized it not theorized

like read the reports that if LeBron doesn't choose the calves they're going to go for Camiga it'd be very funny to see if he goes there or not can be talking about King's what? Yeah we talked about it.

of like eight minutes. Listen, man, we work with what we had. And there we are. We did our best. We will see y'all. Next week.