No, but the whispers are getting spooky
We’re still waiting for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony to either 1. Change the landscape of American basketball by leaving their teams and/or joining forces on the same squad, or 2. Keep the status quo and continue to try and pursue rings on their respective teams. In the meantime, the NBA rumors and whispers have been so vicious, some NBA analysts are already calling the race, despite it only being 80% over. Yesterday, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a major step forward in their quest to get their homegrown superstar, LeBron James, back in red and gold, by unloading Jarrett Jack‘s contract, which will pave the way for their front office to offer LeBron the max contract he’s seeking. While James hasn’t made an official decision yet, many tenured and respected NBA analysts around the league–namely Chris Broussard, Stephen A. Smith and Alex Wojarowski–are all reporting that Cleveland has emerged as their front-runner to land the 4-time NBA MVP in the over the past 7 days. Wojarowski added that James’ agent is pushing for LeBron to return home, but there has been no comment–official or unofficial–from LBJ.
Meanwhile, on the Carmelo Anthony side of things, the path seems a lot more straight and narrow, but that could also mean there’s something brewing that could blindside everyone. Carmelo Anthony has never had the chance to be courted by a potential suitor–when he changed teams 3 seasons ago, he was traded by the Denver Nuggets at the deadline–so, as expected, he’s making sure he takes his time, and is deliberating every step of the process. Reports surfaced yesterday that he’s expected to inform the Knicks of his return at any time, but that hasn’t come, and some are saying he and LeBron are stalling so they could work on a deal that puts them on the same team.
In any case, while we wait on the bombshell(s), here are the latest notes from the free agency circus Chris Broussard’s sources rumor mill.
Despite reports claiming Melo was merely waiting on formalities to officially announce his return to the New York Knicks, there has been no decision made, at least not to the Knicks’ knowledge. CBS is reporting that while the Knicks believe in their heart of hearts that #7 will be back with the team, they haven’t been formally notified. Also, on the possibility of joining LeBron, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojarowski says Carmelo Anthony hasn’t even been able to get in touch with LeBron.
As far as LeBron James goes, things have pretty much whittled down to the possibilities of LeBron staying in Miami and proving that rumors are just that: rumors. However, the Cleveland option is very viable, and the possibility of signing a max deal to play with Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins/Kevin Love–depending on the validity of the trade talks that were floating around nearly every sports website yesterday–back in the hometown he put through immense heartbreak sounds like paradise, in my personal opinion.
The streets say LeBron will announce possibly today. We’ll see.
Khari’s glad these rumors aren’t surrounding Kevin Durant, because he’d have trouble keeping his food down. Follow him on Twitter.
