NBA teams forced to leave voice notes to contact LeBron James in free agency

ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania shared a strange “wrinkle” regarding the LeBron James free agency sweepstakes during a July 9 appearance on ESPN.

“All of the information has funneled through agent Rich Paul with LeBron James. So [interested teams] have been in the process of gathering information. One interesting wrinkle has occurred… some of the leading suitors for LeBron James… have been able to send a voice note to Lebron James, via Rich Paul,” Charania said.

“Whether it’s an owner, a president, or a general manager, being able to record a voice note, I’m told, send it to Rich Paul, and that makes his way to Lebron James. That’s a part of LeBron James’ process,” he added.

Shams added that LeBron isn’t expected to make a decision any time soon, and noted that it’s “unclear” whether the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Miami Heat—who are seen as favorites to land LeBron at this point—are among those who’ve sent LeBron a voice note.

While the prospect of sending voice notes themselves isn’t inherently strange, the fact that NBA front office and executives must resort to that in order to communicate with LeBron—not directly, but instead through LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul—is enough to raise eyebrows.

LeBron is clearly being tough to access on purpose, which is making the process to sign him more difficult than usual.

But these interested teams (which Shams mentioned were the Heat, the Cavaliers, the Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Philadelphia 76ers) will to whatever it takes to sign James—even if it risks coming off as a clingy or desperate.

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