The LeBron James Sweepstakes
C’mon, admit it, you hate Lebron James because he appears to
be an arrogant gazillionaire egomaniac. On the other hand, you love him because he is a bona fide basketball god. Love or hate, he might be on the move to a city near you. LeBron recently opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat
to see how much attention and money he can attract from the rest of the basketball
universe. In the wake of his announcement it seems likely the other two members of The Big Three, Dwyane Wade
and Chris Bosh, will also declare free agency. Hmmm.
These kinds of things get basketball fans all aflutter
because it gives them hope that a championship might be in their near future.
Great players floating around as free agents have that effect. The prevailing
opinion on who might woo LeBron boils down to six possible suitors; Miami Heat,
Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Los AngelesLakers. These six are the only teams who can afford the LeBron entry fee of $23.7
million per year. (The going rate for Wade and Bosh will be substantially
lower.)
Every team owner with a fat checkbook knows the formula for winning in the modern NBA; get one superstar, a couple of regular stars and then a roster full of pretty good
role players. Worked for Boston Celtics during the Bill Russell and Larry Bird
eras, worked for Los Angeles Lakers during the Wilt Chamberlin, Magic Johnson
and Kobe Bryant era’s, and worked for the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era. In the tiny world of type-A billionaire team owners, winning is the business goal but having the best player is the personal goal. Its an ego thing.
Whatever the outcome of this exercise, the result will likely be the breakup of Miami’s fearsome Big Three. It’s a little sad but it’s been a good run for the Heat, lots of titles and a couple of championships. And its good for basketball because it keeps the mix fresh.
Whatever the outcome of this exercise, the result will likely be the breakup of Miami’s fearsome Big Three. It’s a little sad but it’s been a good run for the Heat, lots of titles and a couple of championships. And its good for basketball because it keeps the mix fresh.
Miami
fans are already talking about the future of the franchise but they’ll never
forget the magic of the LeBron era.
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| LeBron James / Dwyane Wade / Chris Bosh Autographed Basketball |
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