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According to LeBron James, he doesn’t have a a narrowed down list of free agency destinations, as a recent report indicated he did. He also understands the speculation surrounding his free agency (which will happen if/when he declines his player option for next season) while he’s playing in the city - Los Angeles - some expect him to end up in.
“I understand that I’m a free agent at the end of the summer, so I understand the frenzy that comes with it,” James said on Friday, per cleveland.com.
“It’s not my first rodeo, but I don’t, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t talk about it too much. Like I said, I’ll handle that whenever it comes, but . . . I understand that the conversation happens here because first of all they have cap space.”
He also said that his focus is on the Cavs’ current season.
“I’ve still got too much work to do here,” James said, per cleveland.com. “One thing about me and my career, you probably don’t know, you haven’t been around me, that I handle my business accordingly, and when that time comes I’ll take care of that. But right now, my job right now is to get these guys prepared for the Clippers tonight and then how we can continue to get better going down the stretch.”
James also said he was “flattered” by billboards recently purchased in different cities to recruit him to different cities. A Philadelphia business started it off by building three billboards in Cleveland in an effort to recruit him to the 76ers. In Los Angeles, a longtime Lakers season ticket holder purchased billboards around Los Angeles to woo James while he’s in town this weekend.
“It’s the same as I stated when I saw the Philadelphia billboards,” James said. “Listen, I’m 15 years into my career and fans and cities want me to play for their team, or have dreams. I think it’s pretty cool. My kids see things like that, they think it’s cool and I think it’s cool. It’s flattering more than anything, that a fan of a team or somewhere would want me to play for their city, so it’s very flattering.”