New LeBron James Rumors Reveal NBA Star Rejected Cavs for Mysterious Reason Before 76ers Decision

Bill Simmons seemed to indicate during his podcast on Wednesday that LeBron James was set to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency this summer before pivoting to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Simmons was convinced that James was going to the Cavaliers, saying in late July that the "Cleveland thing is done" on his podcast on one occasion and saying on another that he would "still bet" on the Cavs landing him.

There are many reasons, if James had indeed been set on going to Cleveland at one point, that he perhaps changed his mind.

The Jaylen Brown trade, for one, made the Sixers extremely appealing as a title contender when it surprisingly happened. Perhaps James tried to unsuccessfully orchestrate a trade to land Kyrie Irving with him in Cleveland rather than James Harden and that soured him on a return. Perhaps other factors behind the scenes played out. Or maybe a lot of bad information made the rounds during the summer while James kept his intentions close to the vest.

Whatever the case may be, James' ultimate decision came as a bit of a surprise—mostly because of his previous ties to other organizations in the hunt like the Cavaliers and Miami Heat—but nobody can doubt that the Sixers gave him the best chance to win another title. With James operating as the de facto point guard and Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe rounding out the starting 5, the Sixers are stacked and the roster fit between the players actually makes sense.

In Cleveland, the fit would have been far more clunky. Perhaps that was the mysterious reason for his decision all along.