Rumors have been swirling for months about what LeBron James plans to do this summer. Maybe he’ll opt into the final year of his contract and return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe he’ll opt in, but it’ll be because he wants the Cavs to ship him somewhere else. Or maybe he’ll just hit the open market, pack his bags, and go play elsewhere.
A whole lot of teams are hoping James picks that third option, and as it turns out, you can add the San Antonio Spurs to that list. According to a report by Marc Stein of the New York Times, Gregg Popovich plans on trying to put in some serious work to get in on what should be a massive field to try and woo James this summer.
“I’ve also been advised that the ever-persuasive San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich is bound to try to force his way into the conversation to sell James on the merits of South Texas,” Stein wrote.
James has never been shy about his fondness of Popovich, going as far as to say he’s the greatest basketball coach of all time. Popovich, meanwhile, has praised James for his impact on and off the court.
The Spurs have been thrown around as a landing spot for James, but that’s been more speculation about what could wind up going down than anything. There is also, of course, that San Antonio is something of a team in flux right now, as no one seems to know what is going down with their own star, Kawhi Leonard. Perhaps he’ll be offered and sign a max deal with the team, or maybe the tensions that appeared to exist this year over his right quad injury will not be reparable and he’ll get shipped elsewhere.
Regardless, the thought of James and Popovich teaming up would be really, really fun. The former is the best basketball player alive, while the latter is the best coach alive. It would give James a coach he respects, Popovich a superstar who can act as an extension of him on the floor, and the Spurs a window to continue to compete for titles, especially if they can get James and convince Leonard to stick around. Maybe it’s a pipe dream, and maybe James never sits down with San Antonio, but it’s a fun pipe dream nonetheless.
(Via New York Times)
