00:00This is Sham Sharanya on one of the shows on ESPN.
00:04Might have been on McAfee, might have been on Get Up, first take.
00:06He was on one of the shows, and he said that every contender out there
00:10has placed a call to LeBron James agent Rich Paul.
00:15LeBron's going to be a free agent this offseason.
00:17Here's Sham Sharanya.
00:18I think LeBron, more than past years, probably needs even more time
00:22with his family, with his inner circle.
00:25So, you know, I do know a lot of teams are calling him and his camp.
00:30I spoke to Rich Paul the other day at the Chicago Draft Combine last week,
00:35and he told me, like, every contender in the NBA has essentially,
00:39since the season ended, placed a call.
00:41So that line is going to continue to be open.
00:43Okay, so keep in mind, this is an agent that is representing LeBron James.
00:49Who's probably saying that everybody is calling.
00:51Everybody wants these.
00:52Who is talking to one of the biggest insiders and transfers of information out there.
00:58Hey, listen, listen, people.
01:00I've, uh, you know, let's talk about real estate agents.
01:04Yeah.
01:04I've shown interest in houses before, okay?
01:07There's always multiple offers.
01:09Like, oh, boy, somebody's about to put an offer in right now.
01:13I'm like, oh, is that right?
01:15Yeah, so I don't know.
01:16That's what agents of all varieties do.
01:18They tell you that there's hot interest in these guys.
01:21Now, that said, it is LeBron freaking James.
01:23It's LeBron James.
01:24That's what I was going to say.
01:25I was never looking at a LeBron James to live in.
01:29Right.
01:30I'm just putting the warning label on what we're about to talk about here.
01:34This is information being fed to Sham Sharanya by one of the most prominent agents of one of the most
01:39famous basketball players of all time.
01:41So, with that warning label attached, I would say that passes a truth filter for me with LeBron.
01:47You know, LeBron's not looking for a max five-year contract at this point.
01:51He might play one or two more years.
01:53And the version of LeBron this year in L.A. was interesting.
01:57We're going to bring this back to the Rockets here in a second.
01:59It's interesting because at one point, he willfully made himself the third wheel on that team.
02:06He ceded control of the team to Luka Doncic, which made sense.
02:10Luka's a top-five player.
02:11To Austin Reeves, which didn't make as much sense, but Reeves is a good player.
02:16And then LeBron, you know, said, you know, I'll be the complimentary guy here.
02:20And then when both of those guys were gone, you saw that, at least for a short spurt in the
02:24postseason,
02:25he was still able to dial up some really, really good games.
02:29Should the Rockets be one of those people that are placing a phone call to LeBron James?
02:33One of those teams, I should say.
02:35Yeah, no, it's a very – look, I would say, man, I think that it would be malpractice
02:41if you don't have a – if you have the opportunity to have a conversation with him
02:44and get the thoughts on what he thinks of your team and what he might do
02:48and how he would approach it and everything, I think that that would be very valuable information.
02:54Even if you decide not to pursue him or what have you, like it would – it's kind of –
02:59it's a great basketball player and a great basketball mind
03:02with a very unique set of experiences in playoffs, in championships.
03:07Yeah.
03:08Yeah, I think you've got to explore it.
03:11You've got to explore it.
03:12He would have definitely solved your point guard problem last year.
03:16Yeah.
03:16You know, he – I know he's not a conventional point guard,
03:18but he is somebody who can orchestrate an offense.
03:20Yeah.
03:21You know, he would have –
03:22And he's going to be much more of a vocal leader in terms –
03:26and I'm not criticizing Grant here.
03:27They're just different personality types.
03:29You know, like LeBron's a classic alpha, but also an alpha who's demonstrated that he can –
03:34you know, it's not like Kobe versus Shaq back in the day.
03:38LeBron and Doncic, you know, despite whatever people tried to drum up or whatever times.
03:43Like LeBron – LeBron is aging gracefully in that regard.
03:47Yeah.
03:47I would say.
03:48I think so, too.
03:49With qualifiers, LeBron's his own kind of unique personality.
03:52I mean, content-wise, it would be through the roof here.
03:54I mean, that would be an amazing topic to talk about.
03:56I cannot wait to flip the switch into being –
03:59of course LeBron should bring Bronny here if that's what he wants.
04:02Oh, yeah, we would get Bronny, too.
04:03That's his right.
04:05Oh, dude, but Bronny and Will Anderson could do all kinds of web content.
04:09We need it for the content.
04:10We do.
04:11We need it for the content.
04:12For those of you who don't know, Bronny and Will Anderson look very, very alike.
04:16Very much alike.
04:17LeBron joked about it.
04:18And I'm allowed to say that because LeBron has acknowledged it himself.
04:21He gave us the go ahead.
04:22Guys like Sean and I get a little bit nervous.
04:24Get a little bit nervous.
04:25That's why when LeBron said, oh, basically, oh, yeah, they look exactly alike.
04:29I was like, yeah, okay, I'm going to start saying it.
04:32Yeah.
04:33The gate's been opened.
04:35Here we go.
04:36No, no, my take in the whole Bronny and Bronny thing has always been like, it's cool.
04:41I can totally appreciate where LeBron's coming from.
04:43At some point, Bronny's got to spread his wings and fly on his own.
04:46Well, he'll have to.
04:47I mean, his dad's going to retire at some point here soon.
04:49But, yeah, you're right.
04:50You know, you're right.
04:51I think it's cool.
04:51Like, I don't like the way it was kind of engineered to get him on the team.
04:56Like, using a draft pick to do it was a little – like, that was a little much.
04:59But I think it comes from a good place.
05:01LeBron, you know, by all accounts, is a great dad.
05:03And I think it comes from that kind of place.
05:05So, that's – I've softened my Bronny stance on that whole thing.
05:10Bratto, who is – he's a part of the Rockets Collective, I believe.
05:15And he and Will do a – a guy, a fellow named Will, who's friends of the show, do a
05:21podcast.
05:22And Bratto said, I think LeBron is going to Cleveland, so this really isn't much of a conversation,
05:27which I agree with.
05:28But hear me out, he says, dot, dot, dot.
05:30LeBron James, Alman Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperin Shengun, all on the same team.
05:38KD and LeBron on the same – I think KD and LeBron on the same team would be a huge
05:43topic going into the season next year.
05:45Well, no, and I –
05:45Like, nationwide, I'm saying.
05:47I mean, the polar opposites of what's the narrative on this guy.
05:51You know, Durant gets criticized for not being the guy that can come in and transform an organization,
05:56which I feel is unfair in a large – to a large degree.
06:00To an extreme degree, I feel like that's unfair.
06:03But LeBron, I mean, that's – he is the guy who has gone in and transformed multiple organizations
06:09and championship contenders.
06:11Yep, yep.
06:12You have the yin and the yang right there in front of you.
06:14I would, at a minimum, be all for this just based purely on the topics that we would get.
06:19It would – you know, it would – certainly the Rockets would bubble back up to the top.
06:23It's so much better than having James Harden date one of the Kardashians.
06:26Yes.
06:26If what you're looking for is national headlines and whatnot.
06:30I mean, uh –
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