Bill Simmons Said LeBron James Was Going to Cavaliers, Then Something Happened

LeBron James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers fans will hate what Bill Simmons said on his latest podcast.

The league’s most popular podcaster was explaining that LeBron picked the 76ers because he genuinely believed in their championship chances. But there’s another wrinkle to this entire saga.

“Listen, he was going to Cleveland. I don’t know what happened. I can’t wait for the story. Something happened.”

Can’t wait for the story? Is this Simmons alluding to the fact that he knows why LeBron isn’t in Cleveland? Then just tell the story? Sheesh.

Simmons never minds getting aggregated. He understands the game. But this feels like it could have serious meat on the bone.

Cleveland is a small city. Behind the scenes, folks in the know were talking about a return a few weeks ahead of LeBron and the Cavaliers being publicly linked. There were rumors about Bronny James joining him, Draymond Green coming over, too.

But as time went on, confidence wavered.

“What’s taking so long?”

Brandon Weems, who was just promoted to general manager of the Cavaliers, was the only known team executive to meet with LeBron. They’re lifelong friends, and were together for a public dinner in Akron at the very beginning of the offseason.

Maybe the Cavs couldn’t land the plane.

Maybe it took so long because LeBron was trying to give Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman and owner Dan Gilbert a lifeboat – trying to get them to move some pieces around to improve their roster and sway him to come home. LeBron’s camp has stated that he never entertained the Sixers until they traded for Jaylen Brown. Perhaps the kid from Akron was waiting for his hometown team to match that move with a splash of their own.

The Cavs recovered nicely, trading for small forward Peyton Watson and adding depth on the fringes of the roster. But Kalshi, the top prediction market that allows users to trade outcomes of real-world events like an NBA season, is giving the Sixers a 10% chance of winning the NBA Finals. The Cavs have just a 2% chance of hosting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

At some point, if this story is true, you’d hope it would come out publicly via a major, national outlet with all of the details included.
LeBron had a documentary film crew with him throughout the entire decision-making process. Rich Paul had been more vocal than ever, giving seemingly daily updates to Max Kellerman on their podcast. Maybe somebody will say something, especially if Gilbert’s Cavaliers are unhappy with LeBron’s camp again. Or vice versa.

LeBron’s free agency was the story of the summer.

And if there’s a hidden wrinkle about LeBron changing his mind out of a farewell tour in his hometown, on a Cavs team that was just four wins away from the NBA Finals – for Philadelphia – now that’s Hollywood.