Everyone Is Waiting For LeBron

Things are quite in the NBA free agency.  Too quiet…

Carmelo Anthony was expected to make his decision as to who he was going to play for on Monday, but the decsion never came, prompting Twitter to hilariously mock the situation with a “beforeMelodecides” hashtag with such gems as “#beforeMelodecides the Cubs will win a World Series.”

Chris Bosh also got a max offer from the Houston Rockets, a bigger paycheck than he will likely get from the Miami Heat. It is an opportunity that normally a player his age and status would jump at. But he is still silent.

Question: What are these two top free agents waiting for?

Answer:  LeBron James

Bosh has yet to make a decision because he is waiting to see how the James situation is going to work out.  If James returns to the Heat, Bosh’s chances at another title lie in Miami.  If James makes a break for it, Bosh will likely head to Houston. But first James has to make his decision.

Meanwhile, it has been clear that ‘Melo is also waiting for his good friend, James to make a decision. If ‘Melo has the chance he wants to play on the same team has James. How that will happen is if James stays with the Heat. The Heat can then not resign Bosh and pick up ‘Melo with the cap space.

If ‘Melo cannot play with James he will likely end up with the Los Angeles Lakers or the Chicago Bulls, though according to most reports the Bulls are all but officially out of the running for ‘Melo and have even began shopping for other players.  The New York Knicks, meanwhile, hope that ‘Melo simply decides to come back to them.

That means that other teams like the Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Bulls and the Cleveland Cavilers are also waiting on LeBron.  Especially, the latter.

Today the Cavs have moved beyond simple symbolic gestures, like removing David Gilbert’s letter from their website, to making real and risky moves that make seem like they are pretty confident they will be getting James. The Cavs have made huge trades to clear cap space so they can give James a max offer, trade that will seriously damage the Cavs depth if James does not join, leaving Cleveland again scrambling, as they did four years ago when James opted to play in Miami. Will we see another heartbreaking scenario play out in Cleveland again connected to James?

And if you think it seems like the entire NBA is revolving around King James at the moment, you are not wrong.