There was plenty of speculation after LeBron James announced he was going to hit free agency this summer, and his agent, Rich Paul, said that he had spoken to 27 of the NBA’s 30 teams about James. But now, we have concrete evidence, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that the Celtics expressed interest in signing James.
Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. Even at 41 years old, James is one of the best 25 or so players still in the league, and considering he was obviously willing to sign a vet minimum contract, the value was apparent for any team looking to compete, which the Celtics certainly are.
It doesn’t sound like talks got far, and Boston clearly didn’t end up in James’ final five, but it’s interesting nonetheless to see that there was real pursuit from Brad Stevens and the organization, even for the long-time rival who supposedly “hates” Boston. As weird as it would have been to embrace James in Boston, it’s good to know that Stevens isn’t thinking like that and is only trying to maximize the roster and win.
We’ll likely never know how much, if at all, James considered the Celtics, but the fact that they were one of 10 teams on Rich Paul’s whiteboard during his now-infamous podcast segment is noteworthy. It’s also noteworthy that McMenamin pointed out that Jaylen Brown being traded to Philadelphia had the Sixers “suddenly grabbing James’ attention”.
Which begs the question: if the Celtics kept Brown, would they have been able to sign LeBron? It’s certainly fair to wonder, as we know that James chose Philly, at least in part due to the addition of JB. We also know that Boston expressed interest, and they made Paul’s whiteboard, as he wrote, “Tatum + Brad”.
How close were the Celtics to signing LeBron?
Well, if that whiteboard had said, “Tatum + Brown + Brad”, would that have been enough to tip the scales? Would that have put Boston in the final five in place of Philly? Could LeBron actually have seen himself go to his biggest rival and try to win a fifth title in Boston alongside Tatum and Brown?
We may never know, but given the evidence we have, it’s hard not to think that could have been a very real possibility. It’s crazy to think that this actually could have come together and we could have seen James actually suit up in the green and white, calling the parquet floor home. In some ways, that’s a scary thought and maybe something that was never meant to be in the first place.
At the same time, it’s hard not to think about what could have been. To imagine Tatum, Brown, and James patrolling the wings, and possibly bringing the magic back to TD Garden. Ultimately, I’m glad things went the way they did. Bringing myself to cheer for James and to see him in that uniform would have been a tough pill to swallow and nearly blasphemous.
I know a lot of professional sports is just rooting for laundry, but this would have been different. This has been a rivalry spanning across three decades, and hating LeBron is all I know. Thankfully, in Boston, we’ll get to keep doing it for at least a couple more years.
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