Much like Draymond Green, James Harden is waiting on LeBron James‘ decision before re-upping with his current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Harden may already have an inkling of what James plans to do.
In a recent conversation with Channing Frye, Harden reportedly noted that the Cavaliers were “waiting on big fella,” signaling his strong confidence that James would join him, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley in Cleveland.
While addressing James’ free-agent situation on Tuesday, Frye revealed details of what Harden told him during their recent conversation.
“He [LeBron] and James Harden would be a great matchup,” Frye told “Yahoo Sports Daily,” via ESPN Cleveland. “I even talked to James the other day, the other night. And he was like, ‘yo, we’re just waiting on big fella.’”
LeBron James Warned Against Joining Heat
Frye also cautioned his former Cavs teammate against joining the Miami Heat, the reported betting favorite to land “The King” this summer. The NBA champion’s reasoning is simple: a lineup featuring James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo lacks the spacing and perimeter shooting needed to run a high-level offense.
“I think the only two options are Cleveland and Miami,” Frye said.
“But I don’t like the roster in Miami at all,” he continued. “There’s not enough shooters. Giannis plays more of a Jokic-style basketball where he has to have the ball in his hands, and then now you’re making LeBron James a spot-up shooter.”
Further to Frye’s point, the Heat’s current roster features just one player who averaged at least two made threes per game last season—Andrew Wiggins—following the summer departures of Norman Powell and Tyler Herro. While the addition of Tim Hardaway Jr. should help, the Heat lack consistent shooting to surround James and Antetokounmpo.
LeBron James Free Agency Drags On
As we enter Day 22 of the LeBron James free agency sweepstakes, there’s still no clear-cut timeline in place for the four-time NBA champion to make his decision. In fact, Rich Paul, James’ agent, has also suggested that there’s no clear-cut frontrunner (despite the myriad reports) and James is still in the process of deliberating his options.
“These people don’t know anything,” Paul said on his “Game Over” podcast.
“I don’t know when his choice is going to be made, but it could be 48 seconds [from now]. It could be 48 minutes. I don’t know. Again, you can’t make somebody know something that they don’t know.”
Kendrick Perkins, another former Cavaliers teammate of LeBron James, turned heads this week when he suggested that James recently had a change of heart on his free agency decision. Many perceived the comments as a reference to the Cavs, who began the free agency process as overwhelming favorites before losing ground to the Heat, Golden State Warriors and even the Philadelphia 76ers.
Cleveland Cavaliers Star Drops Major Hint on LeBron James Decision