{"id":1039,"date":"2026-07-16T23:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:12:22","slug":"lebron-james-offers-no-hints-about-his-next-team-during-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1039","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James offers no hints about his next team during podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LeBron<\/div>

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NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>If LeBron James<\/a> knows where he will play this coming season, he\u2019s still not saying.<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s career scoring king and current free agent spoke publicly for the first time in weeks Thursday afternoon, though stopped short of revealing which team he\u2019ll choose to play for this fall \u2014 despite at least one cry from someone in a jam-packed room shouting for him to \u201cpick a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun wherever I land,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

The four-time NBA champion was recording an episode of his \u201cMind the Game\u201d podcast<\/a> alongside guest co-host Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers in New York on the opening day of Fanatics Fest, a four-day event featuring dozens of athletes, celebrities and sports legends. Single-day general admission tickets were sold out, organizers said, and it\u2019s likely that many of those patrons \u2014 there were at least several hundred there, phones out to capture the moment \u2014 were hoping to hear James\u2019 next decision.<\/p>\n

Not yet, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no decision,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s appearance has been planned for months; it was announced publicly in May. James playfully chided Haliburton for asking him about his future \u2014 \u201cDidn\u2019t we talk about this in the back?\u201d James asked, and Haliburton said he\u2019d \u201dleave it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, they didn\u2019t leave it alone. James made reference to a slew of teams such as Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia and Golden State, though didn\u2019t appear to give much in the way of hints. He did sip from a bottle of red wine that he opened and shared with Haliburton, calling it one of his podcast traditions.<\/p>\n

And when fans shouted out suggestions for James\u2019 next team \u2014 one even asked him to play for the New York Yankees \u2014 no clues were forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\"Lakers <\/picture>\n
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If former Lakers forward LeBron James knows where he plans to play next season, he wasn\u2019t sharing that news with fans on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

James is the NBA\u2019s oldest active player at 41 and the only player in league history to have a career spanning 23 seasons; this coming season will be his 24th. Speculation has been rampant for more than two months about his future, officially starting in May when the Lakers<\/a> were eliminated from the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

At that time, James said he didn\u2019t know what he would be doing.<\/p>\n

And the only developments that he\u2019s revealed since came on June 30, when he said he would play this coming season and that he was leaving the Lakers after an eight-season run highlighted by the 2020 NBA title.<\/p>\n

For more than two weeks, the NBA has been waiting to hear what comes next. James, as he did in a social media post at the time, lauded his time with the Lakers, who also offered him well wishes as he moves forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 resume is beyond compare in NBA history.<\/a> He\u2019s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time most valuable player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP and was a member of the NBA\u2019s 75th anniversary team.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. For his career, he\u2019s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.<\/p>\n

The podcast was the first of two known speaking engagements for James in New York on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He also has an appearance at the Game Plan Summit, an invitation-only event presented by CNBC and Boardroom. James is slated to have a conversation with Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman \u2014 Kevin Durant\u2019s longtime business partner \u2014 about \u201chow he\u2019s built an empire beyond basketball, what\u2019s ahead for him in business, and why the next generation of athletes is poised to wield more influence than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

James started his career in Cleveland in 2003 and spent seven seasons with the Cavaliers before heading to Miami for four seasons \u2014 where he won his first two titles. He then returned to Cleveland for four more seasons, leaving in 2018 to start an eight-season run with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Cleveland and Miami are believed to be on James\u2019 radar again as he weighs this decision, as are several other teams including Philadelphia, Minnesota and Golden State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to what comes next as I wind down my journey,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

Whyno and Reynolds write for the Associated Press. Reynolds reported from Miami.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0If LeBron James knows where he will play this coming season, he\u2019s still not saying. The NBA\u2019s career scoring king and current free agent spoke publicly for the first time in weeks Thursday afternoon, though stopped short of revealing which team he\u2019ll choose to play for this fall \u2014 despite at least one cry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/cdd7dee\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5765x3027+0+0\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fab%2Fb8%2Fa222a84d477e90f33c991036f257%2F1535542-sp-nba-lakers-kings-0017-eat.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2120,1862,2119,537,2121,437],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-hints","tag-james","tag-lebron","tag-offers","tag-podcast","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}