LeBron James is a Laker.

Paul George is a Thunder, or whatever you call someone who plays for Oklahoma City.

Kawhi Leonard is… still a Spur for now.

So that’s two misses for the Sixers and one N/A, assuming they even took a swing at PG13 in the first place.

I finally saw Avengers: Infinity War over the weekend, me and the five other schlubs in the Delaware Valley that still hadn’t seen it. Without spoiling it for any other schlubs out there, I’ll just say that the ending was sort of a stunner, but it left you with some hope for the future.

I guess the Sixers are the Avengers here and LeBron is Thanos, because he’s decimated the NBA, taking the imbalanced conferences and making them even more weighted than before, if that’s even possible. You’re now looking at a west that includes LeBron, the Warriors, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and wherever Kawhi ends up.

The east has the Celtics, the Sixers, and I guess the Raptors, who might actually get by the Cavs this year. This half of the NBA looks like it will be, at most, mildly interesting as we track some young draft picks this season. But the winner is still gonna be smoked in the finals, so it’s important that we realize that and understand that right now, on July 2nd, 2018. I don’t see any Eastern Conference team winning more than one game in the finals.

What now for the Sixers? Do you make a run at Kawhi on a one year rental, knowing that he wants to play in his hometown of Los Angeles? Of course you could take a crack at that and hope the buzzing Philly atmosphere convinces him to sign a long term deal, but there’s no way I’m doing that. It’s waaaaaaay too risky to give up future picks and/or a player or two just to be living on a prayer, as Bon Jovi once said.

So I think you kick the can down the road a little bit and focus on these things instead:

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I haven’t written much about NBA free agency, mainly because I think it just devolves into a nothingness of theoretical trades and overreaction to every Woj bomb. Will LeBron James opt out? Was Kawhi’s agent seen at Wawa? Did Paul George tour Methacton High School? A friend of a friend who knows a guy in Hammonton says blah blah BLAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

But the more I think about it, the less interest I have in LeBron coming to Philly. It’s not for basketball reasons though, and I find it strange that Brian Windhorst seems to think he wouldn’t be a “match” for the Sixers:

Windhorst: “I don’t see the basketball match for LeBron & Philadelphia.”

— Ry (@JustRyCole) June 29, 2018

He wouldn’t see the “basketball match” for LeBron in Philadelphia? Is he blind? James can play with anybody on any team, and he can especially play on an up-tempo, pass-happy club featuring the reigning Rookie of the Year and a 24-year-old center who can stretch and shoot and sling it out of the post when he wants to. If anything, I’d think LeBron would enjoying playing in more of an off-ball role, instead of handling the rock almost exclusively in a slower point-forward setup surrounded by the likes of Kevin Love, George Hill, and Kyle Korver. Watching LeBron run the floor with Ben Simmons and company would be phenomenal, and the defensive pressure would be taken off of him by the likes of Robert Covington and Joel Embiid, one guy who finished second in the DPOY race and another who got votes.

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Shocker!

Vard-bomb:

LeBron James’ agent informed the Cavs he will not exercise his $35.6 million option and thus will become an unrestricted free agent, sources told @clevelanddotcom … Story coming

— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) June 29, 2018

Confirmed by others shortly thereafter:

Sources: Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has declined his $35.6M player option for 2018-19 and will enter free agency.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2018

LeBron James has informed the Cavs he won’t opt into his contract. This decision is favorable to the Lakers chances, hurts the Rockets chances and the Cavs remain firmly in mix.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 29, 2018

Let’s get LeBron’s people on the phone with general manager Brett Brown. Or, do you pursue Kawhi instead? I dunno, the whole thing is exhausting, which is why I’ve deferred to Russ on the free agency rumor beat.

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Who wins the NBA title?

Next year, not this year. I think the Warriors have it pretty much wrapped up…

The bookmakers still like the Dubs and Rockets in 2019, but early odds are out from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook and rumored LeBron James suitors are littered among the top ten:

• Warriors: 5-4
• Rockets: 7-2
• Sixers: 7-2
• Celtics: 8-1
• Lakers: 20-1
• Heat: 20-1
• Spurs 25-1
• Cavs: 30-1
• Raptors: 40-1
• Jazz/Thunder: 60-1

Sixers 7-2? Heat and Lakers 20-1? Cavs 30-1?

That’s all LeBron (and Paul George) in free agency.

It’s interesting to see the Sixers that high, and especially above the Celtics. Some some people think the Bryan Colangelo situation is warding LeBron away from Philadelphia and others think it makes no difference whatsoever. I’m in the latter camp. If LeBron wants to play with Ben Simmon and Joel Embiid on a supermax contract, I don’t think he gives a shit about who the general manager is. I don’t think this weekend dig really matters one way or another:

LeBron with the Colangelo joke.

(Via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/7RO9eVdcCd

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 2, 2018

Think about it, though, if you’re working at a company like… I don’t know, say Campbell’s Soup, and you were given the choice to move to any department in the building with two co-workers of your choice, you’d probably do it, right? Your immediate supervisor would be Brett Brown and Colangelo would just sort of be there in a less hands-on role, like the HR manager. He would bring in some of your new co-workers, and you may or may not like them, but you still report to Brown and you still work primarily with the two original folks. I think most people would probably jump at the opportunity.

For what it’s worth, one of the concepts floating around out there is that you could potentially replace Colangelo with ex-Cavs GM David Griffin, with whom LeBron has a good relationship. Griffin recently appeared on Zach Gelb’s CBS Radio show and was asked about James possibly joining up with Simmons and Joel in Philadelphia. Griffin said that he felt like the Sixers might have “a leg up” due to the connection between James and Simmons, who share an agent in Rich Paul:

“…if I knew the boxes he was going to check I would have a better feel for it. I do think it’s significant that Rich Paul is the representative for Ben Simmons as well, so he’s going to know the organization very well. That will certainly give them a leg up. I know Brett Brown is somebody that you’re going to look at when you’re LeBron. You’re going to look at Pop, you’re going to look at the coach in LA. All the teams that he’s went to, coaching is going to matter, and I think because Ben has intimate knowledge of Coach Brown that will probably help.”

Listen below:

Riddle me this: Why would a home remodeling company based out of Chester, PA buy three billboards on I-480 in Cleveland? To recruit LeBron James to Philly, of course.

The three billboards, each with a different LeBron-to-Philly message, are located seven miles from Quicken Loans Area. Here they are:

Today in Cleveland…

(via @darrenrovell) pic.twitter.com/IxmCNZwhU9

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 26, 2018

I love it. It’s like the old saying goes: Sometimes in life if you want something, you just have to rent three strategically-placed billboards in Cleveland for three months and grab it.

Asher Raphael, the co-CEO of Power Home Remodeling, told ESPN’s Darren Rovell:

“We’re passionate about Philadelphia. We have an amazing city, it’s the best sports town and it’s an awesome place to live. We think the best athletes should want to play here.”

Simple enough. While it remains to be seen if James will heed the advice of the ploy and complete the process, at the very least, this is one hell of a creative (and funny) marketing strategy.