00:00You guys saw the breaking news on social media.
00:02LeBron Watch is finally over.
00:05The 22-time All-Star is headed to the city of brotherly love,
00:08and he will sign a reported two-year, $8 million deal.
00:13Kobe Price of the California Post is on to talk about LeBron's latest
00:17and possible final move of his career and, of course, his legacy.
00:22Kobe, no more speculation.
00:24No more asking you where we think he's going to go,
00:27why did he leave the Lakers.
00:28It's in.
00:29The tweets are out.
00:31One, appreciate you coming on.
00:33LeBron tweeted that he thought his career was over after his last game as a Laker,
00:38that he still wants to compete and to win and have a chance at the feeling of winning
00:45another championship.
00:46Two-part question here.
00:48Thoughts on the tweets, and why do you think he chose Philly over Miami and Cleveland?
00:56Well, first off, appreciate you, as always, for having me on.
00:59When we get into the tweets part of it, I mean, honestly, it's eye-opening,
01:03just a little bit of insight into LeBron's mind from LeBron's phone or laptop or iPad,
01:08whatever he's treating off of, right?
01:10Like, just to get a little bit of insight, you know, not talking to other people around
01:13him, not hearing talk to other executives, front office people, the man himself, and to
01:17hear him say, you know, it makes sense because the important context within this, when he
01:23announced that he was not going to return to the Lakers was that was his decision to
01:27come back for 24th, you know, again, a record-extending 24th NBA season.
01:33So when he makes that decision, it's two decisions.
01:36One, is he going to come back or does he want to come back?
01:39Period.
01:40That's the first decision.
01:41The second one is, okay, if it's not going to, if he's going to come back, where is it
01:45going to be?
01:46And he made maybe one and a half decisions within the first decisions of, okay, you know,
01:51being LeBron, I'm going to come back, but it's not going to be with the Lakers.
01:55Now you get the other half decision, I guess, full decision of, okay, now we know who's
01:58the next team.
01:59As for the team itself, I mean, it's pretty shocking.
02:04I mean, I've been reaching out to people, talking to people, you know, since the decision
02:06was made.
02:07A couple of people have been like, yeah, this was probably the best outcome.
02:10But, you know, for LeBron, you know, he said it himself, like, this is about competing
02:15for championships.
02:16And even before LeBron's decision, if you ask me among all the teams, maybe even including
02:22Minnesota, that had the best shot of winning the championship, Philly would probably be
02:26number one.
02:27And now they're definitely number one with LeBron on the side.
02:29But just think about it.
02:30He's going east where the Knicks, obviously, reigning NBA champions.
02:34That's the only team I could truly put above the Sixers, the Sixers, period, especially
02:40when you have LeBron.
02:41If he stayed west, you still have to compete against the Thunder, the Spurs.
02:45Even if he went to a team like Minnesota, even with LeBron, Minnesota, they're probably
02:49finishing below the Thunder and Spurs.
02:51Now in the east with 76ers, as good of a shot as any team in the east to come out
02:57of the
02:57east and go to the NBA Finals, right beside or right behind the Knicks.
03:02And I'm going to get you to elaborate on if the Sixers are now legit contenders coming
03:07out of the east in a little bit.
03:08But let's talk about his role, what his role could be in Philly.
03:12I mean, there was that little beef between he and Jalen Brown about what Jalen Brown was
03:17caught on the hot mic saying about Bronny.
03:20When you have a Jalen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, now LeBron James, what's LeBron's
03:27role going to be on this team?
03:28And what do you think he accepts as a role?
03:32Yeah, and it's also important to point with the Jalen Brown factor that Jalen Brown was
03:36a player that LeBron actually endorsed for MVP.
03:39I think maybe that was back in January, February last season.
03:43But in terms of his actual role for the 76ers, I mean, it's going to be probably very similar
03:48to what we saw during the back end of his tenure, maybe that March when he was with the Lakers.
03:53The playmaking, the low post operation.
03:56Because yes, the 76ers, obviously they have Joel Embiid.
03:59But can you count on Joel Embiid to play 55, 60 games year in and year out?
04:05At this point, probably not.
04:07So even with or without Embiid, LeBron's going to be operating out of the low post.
04:11But he's about easing him into it.
04:13We saw this last year with the Lakers.
04:17He kind of eased his way into the season.
04:19And with all the perimeter talent that the 76ers have, again, you have Maxey, you have Jalen
04:24LeBron, you have Edgecombe, you can, they can kind of take the burden off of LeBron and
04:29he can focus on other parts of the game, playmaking, defense, rebounding, ease his way into scoring.
04:35He doesn't have to be, I mean, there's a, there's a strong world in which, you know,
04:39for the, in the first time in his career, LeBron could be the fourth leading scorer just
04:43from a points per game as a standpoint on the team, which would be new for him.
04:47But that is kind of the role that they would probably be expecting of him just from what
04:51they have and what would be best for the team.
04:54All right.
04:55He's back in the East.
04:57The Knicks, the Kings of the East brought the broom out against Philly last, last playoffs.
05:04But now you've got a team with Jalen Brown, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey.
05:12Are the 76ers now a legitimate threat in the East and even a possible finals run?
05:22Absolutely.
05:22Absolutely.
05:23Again, right behind, I'll give the Knicks their due.
05:25They're the reigning champs.
05:26They, they deserve to be number one until someone knocks them off or if they just don't
05:29show the capability of being number one, which there's no reason to believe that would
05:33be the case.
05:34But right behind them or right beside them should be the 76ers.
05:37Again, a starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, Vijay Edgecombe, Jalen Brown, LeBron James, and
05:41Joel Embiid.
05:42Decent depth on the roster as well, you know, coming off the bench.
05:46They can go like, they can go pretty deep with in terms of the reserve.
05:49So this should be a team that is, you know, as good as any team in the East, right behind
05:55the Knicks, right behind the Knicks.
05:56They have the scoring.
05:57The defense could be a little bit troublesome, especially when we're talking about the main
06:00five or six guys.
06:01Uh, but they, they could be, you know, one of the most fun, one of the most efficient
06:07offenses in the league when you're adding LeBron.
06:09I mean, they already were training on that pace when they added Jalen Brown, uh, in exchange
06:13for Paul George, but you add LeBron in there, like he's more additive.
06:17He doesn't take away anything from the team.
06:19He's just additive to what you already do.
06:21So they're right there.
06:23They're right there to me.
06:23They move ahead of the Cavaliers.
06:25They move ahead of the Celtics.
06:27They move ahead of maybe even the Pistons who obviously are looking around like, Hey,
06:31we're still, no, I'm, they know that the Pistons, uh, excuse me, that the Knicks won
06:35the title, but they won 60 games of a number one seed.
06:38But to me, uh, the 76ers are right there, right behind the 70, uh, excuse me, right behind
06:44the Knicks in terms of championship equity in the East.
06:46It's like, I can't believe we're talking about LeBron James, the LeBron James signing
06:51with his fourth NBA team, coming back to the East and teaming up with the Jalen Brown
06:56and the Tyrese Maxey.
06:58Uh, there's a lot of LeBron stands out there that are already ordering that all black 76ers
07:04LeBron James jersey.
07:07Um, let's talk about this man's legacy.
07:10What does this move mean for LeBron's legacy?
07:13And when it's all said and done, the smoke clears, do you think it's going to be a positive
07:19or negative impact on the LeBron James, King James legacy?
07:24I mean, his legacy is pretty solidified after playing 23 NBA seasons, but as long as he's
07:29still playing, he can continue to add to it.
07:31Right.
07:31Uh, so at least at this point, I think it's going to be positive, you know, the, the ability
07:36to compete for, for a championship or championships.
07:39It is a two year deal.
07:41And LeBron, he's, he said it before, you know, you give him two years in, in a destination
07:46on a team, he'll figure it out.
07:49So this should be positive, especially if the 76ers are able to make it to the conference
07:54finals, make it to the finals, potentially even win the finals.
07:57I mean, this is a 76ers team.
07:59That's been what for the past decade, been one of the better teams in the league, but
08:05they haven't, they haven't had a breakthrough.
08:06They haven't even made it to the conference finals, you know, this entire time that Joel
08:10Embiid's been with the franchise.
08:11So if he's able to get them to the conference finals, I mean, that's a victory for them.
08:16Anything beyond that, like that's additive to what LeBron, you know, LeBron's legacy and
08:20all the accolades he's already racked up in his career.
08:22Yeah.
08:23They haven't been to the conference finals since 2001.
08:25That was the last time they were in the NBA finals.
08:28Uh, they've been looked at as a little bro.
08:30They've been looked at as that team that underachieves.
08:33But now LeBron James has a chance to be that guy to get them over the hump.
08:37All right, Kobe, appreciate all the coverage of this LeBron James free agency, my man.
08:42No, appreciate you.
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