It's official, he's never beating the ring chasing allegations.
NBA Thread 2026-2027
Robert Horry has entered the chat.
We need a new word or term for “ring chasing” though. It’s “ring chasing” with the caveat of a legitimate market he has interest in.
If he really wanted to ring chase he could have taken this money in San Antonio, OKC, New York… heck Minnesota, Denver, Indiana
Sorry has 3. LeBron would be the first
Half those teams weren't interested in him, and the other half aren't as good a fit. He 100% took the job that makes the most sense for winning a title. Not that they'll necessarily succeed.
Ok - find this fascinating. Because I’m not really sure I’m even disagreeing with you.
But if some of these teams truly “didnt have interest in him” for him signing at $4 million a year - then those GMs should be fired on the spot.
Okc could have slotted LeBron into the spot dort vacated by just moving Williams up. San Antonio brought in Tobias Harris for $15 million annually (4x as much as LeBron). Pacers paid Kelly Oubre more - Jarace Walker gets paid 2x as much as LeBron. Denver pays cam Johnson 6x as much as LeBron.
If LeBrons camp truly called up San Antonio or OKC or Denver and they said “no interest” then someone needs to be publicly ridiculed - OKC and San Antonio without a doubt would have been better title odds for LeBron than Philly IMO
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I think a big part of the strategy was also going back to the Eastern Conference. OKC & SA remain the betting favorites to win it all. Going through either of them in the playoffs is going to be a tall (literally) order.
His best role at this stage is facilitator, NYK weren’t going to put the ball in his hands. He fits pretty well as a point forward in Philly. They will be able to spread the floor with everyone, and create a lot of lanes to the hoop for whichever guy finds himself open.
The fit makes a ton of sense.
Money isn’t really a thing to LeBron. Dude is a billionaire.
The whole “ring-chasing” narrative is weird… Who isn’t chasing the ring? Why keep playing for any other reason? The guy will turn 42 this year… His years of being the best guy on a Championship team are over.
One thing college basketball has without a doubt over the NBA is celebrating accomplishments outside of just a national championship.
Drives me insane we’ve boiled so many of these awesome NBA players down to merely “but how many rings bro?!”.
And candidly, it’s helped kill regular season interest. And I say that as a huge NBA guy
That might be his best role, but he's not playing that role no matter where he goes. That's the problem. He wants to win a championship as the guy, not as a role player. That was on display with the Lakers, where they played better when he wasn't on the floor and they were able to function as Luka's team.
Ring chasing doesn't mean wanting to win. It means moving around to try and win. Like when KD went to Golden State, an already established championship caliber team.
It's not a value judgement, just an observation. Steph isn't leaving GS to find an easier path to a championship. Jordan didn't join up with Malone and Stockton when he un-retired to form a super team.
Another example: if Harden re-signs with Cleveland, that's not ring chasing, even though they're a good team that can compete. If he takes a huge pay cut to sign with the Timberwolves though, that'd be ring chasing.
Honestly, at age 42, if you’re still good enough to actually substantially matter in a ring chase. At a certain point I just gotta tip my cap lol.
As for Steph (my all time favorite player), he had no problem forming a super team, and candidly I wish he’d go somewhere that mattered right now because this golden state thing is wasting him and it bums me out
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Yeah of course. Top two player all time. But maybe it's old fashioned of me, but I do think less of the fact that LeBron spent years trying to recruit another championship team in LA, basically playing shadow GM, then when it didn't work just bailed and went tagged onto a ready made roster.
Like I said, no judgment, I'm not using ring chasing as a pejorative (though many do, including apparently LeBron's agent who said this move is not about chasing a title which is absolutely ridiculous). But there's a massive difference between recruiting other players to come play for the franchise you are the face of, and shopping your services around for a new team that's best situated to get you a title.
Again, maybe I'm old fashioned for this but there's something cool about a franchise great sticking with said franchise. I never blame a guy for leaving if he needs to but idk man, if Steph never plays for any other team I think that would be really cool. It'd kind of bum me out to see Steph in any other NBA jersey. I mean, MJ in a Wizards jersey was sad, and so was Ewing in a Sonics jersey.
I highly doubt LeBron would have gone to OKC. LeBron cares about where he lives. Not sure he would have wanted to live in San Antonio. I can almost guarantee you there was no way he was going to Indiana. Only reason Cleveland was in the mix is because of his ties there, and I think he felt like been there, done that and he had already filled his “obligation” and got the city its title.
That's the problem, he wants a ring so bad, he will basically be payed nothing, (compared to what he should get) just to win another title. No respect for that.
Eh. Jalen Brunson took a pay cut for this Knicks team to stay together - do you respect that?
Brady played on a discount forever - you don’t respect Tom Brady?
I highly doubt if we got a ton notch bball recruit on less money and they said “I wanna go somewhere I can win” you’d be saying you don’t respect it. In fact, Kylan said he did that - you don’t like that?
I’m not even saying I’ve respected all LeBron moves to be clear. But I can respect going somewhere where he still will need to produce, and produce at a high level, in order to win a title.
If he took that same pay cut and went to OKC or San Antonio or New York - that to me is ring chasing so badly to the point you could do literally nothing and still have a shot at a ring (Kevin cough* Durant)
There’s been plenty of LeBron things that have annoyed me. I’m struggling to get outraged over this one though
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Those comparisons are cute but not even close to ring chasing. Everyone knows LeBron has been doing it for at least a decade, and no I still dont respect it. Outraged? Lol no, just dont respect it.
I mean it’s taking less money in order to try and win? You can call it “cute” all you want, but that was your point, not mine my man lol.