Fox Sports 1’s Chris Broussard let it all fly in a revealing interview with Alex Kennedy on the HoopsHype Podcast, giving his thoughts about the long-term fate of LeBron James and his potential destination.
While Broussard put his chips on him staying on Cleveland, he put out the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers as his two most likely landing spot sat the end of this upcoming season, as he has failed to commit long-term to the organization.
He pointed the Spurs would be a fit because playing with an iconic coach was the one thing missing to join other greats in the history of the league.
“The one thing that’s unfortunate when it comes to LeBron’s career is [he hasn’t had a great coach]. I think that hurts him in the G.O.A.T. conversation and I’m on record as saying he’s the second-best player of all-time behind Michael Jordan. But if you look at a lot of the greats, the one thing they have in common is they had a great coach. Jordan played for Phil Jackson. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson had Pat Riley. Tim Duncan had Gregg Popovich. Kobe Bryant has Phil Jackson. LeBron – with all due respect to Erik Spoelstra, Ty Lue and Mike Brown, who are all good coaches – has never had that iconic coach, that legendary coach who could’ve fully coached him and [gotten the most out of him].
Many journalists and analysts have carved a path for James to end up with the Lakers, but the Spurs seems to be a rather odd selection due to the presence of Kawhi Leonard at the small forward position. While either Leonard or James can slide to a different position to accommodate the other at some point, it’s highly unlikely a team that has had difficulty obtaining key free agents this offseason can align itself to get the best-available talent in the next.
Popovich’s best chance to coach James will be in the upcoming Olympics, as the pathway is likely blocked for the near future due to the Spurs’ tight cap situation.
While the King hasn’t had an “iconic coach” like the legends listed above, it’s also true that none of them (or any other player by that matter) have had the freedom that he’s had to carve out his own destiny, as most of them have played their whole career for one team — something that James let go of many years ago.