The past 48 hours have been difficult for Celtics Nation, and that’s an understatement.
But with Jaylen Brown officially off to Philadelphia, attention has already shifted to the next major domino still left to fall as free agent LeBron James weighs his options after departing the Lakers. James, currently considering what could be his final destination before retirement, hasn’t closed the door on many potential suitors thus far.
That includes the Celtics, according to James’ agent Rich Paul.
This offseason
has seen stars such as Brown, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball, and Ja Morant traded, each from their respective homegrown organizations in a shocking first few days. And there are still more to come, with Paul unveiling those in the running to sign James this offseason.
Boston, off a first-round playoff exit, finally chose between the same two paths it had weighed for years: either keep Jayson Tatum alongside Brown or split them up. This time, they chose the latter, and what followed was an instinctual reaction from a passionate fanbase that hadn’t considered the real possibility of the Jays being broken up until it finally kicked in.
But that’s the reality of professional sports, and the Celtics — as special as they’ve always been — are no exception.
Brown is gone. It hasn’t even been a week since the start of free agency, and the fourth of July fireworks haven’t popped off throughout the city either. So the most unforeseen outcome for many fans is still very fresh. For Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, who will need to answer for his decision in Monday’s upcoming press conference with majority owner Bill Chisholm, there’s still plenty of work to do.
Paul, speaking with Max Kellerman on the Game Over podcast, listed 10 teams James is said to be considering: the Warriors, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Spurs, Mavericks, Heat, Knicks, Cavaliers, Sixers, and Celtics.
“Brad and Tatum,” Paul’s whiteboard read.
In the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Tatum and James won a gold medal as teammates for Team USA. That same summer, the two shared the red carpet for the premiere of Netflix’s Starting 5 docuseries, featuring both Tatum and James. Their relationship over the years has survived the longstanding rivalry between LeBron and the city of Boston, which dates back to his debut stint with the Cavaliers — back when Tatum was in elementary school.
During Tatum’s rookie season, he flushed an iconic postseason dunk in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, introducing himself to the future Hall of Famer with four championships to his name. Since then, Tatum and James have embraced each other with routine friendly encounters during their regular-season run-ins as foes on the court.
Boston, unlike Golden State and Cleveland, can only offer James the veteran minimum after using their mid-level exception to sign Mitchell Robinson to a three-year, $47.4 million contract. That means James would have to take a pay cut to join a Celtics team currently featuring Tatum, Robinson, Derrick White, and Paul George.
Last season, James averaged 20.9 points on 51.5 percent shooting as a 41-year-old in his 23rd season. Most impressively, James did so while accepting a downgraded role as the third option behind Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves in Los Angeles. So the willingness to take a backseat for the betterment of the team, while remaining effective, is a role James is capable of accepting.
Whether James lands in Boston remains up to him. If he does, it would mark one of the NBA’s most stunning uniform switches ever — surpassing Michael Jordan’s final two seasons with the Wizards by a country mile. It would also coincide with what’s already been an odd and uncomfortable offseason for Celtics fans, currently in store for a much, much different team come October.
