James says he isn’t ready to reveal a decision on his future, doesn’t offer any hints

NEW YORK (AP):
If LeBron James knows where he will play this coming season, he’s still not saying.
The NBA’s career scoring king and current free agent spoke publicly for the first time in weeks  yesterday afternoon, indicating that a decision is close – though stopping short of revealing which team he’ll choose to play for this fall, despite at least one cry from someone in a jampacked room shouting for him to “pick a team.”
“I won’t hold you guys up too much longer,” James said.
The four-time NBA champion had a pair of appearances  yesterday: He recorded an episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast alongside guest co-host Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers in New York on the opening day of Fanatics Fest, then spoke at the Game Plan Summit presented by CNBC and Boardroom later in the afternoon.
At the summit, he told Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman in an on-stage conversation that making this decision has a slew of layers – many of which, it seems, are off the court.
“It’s not just about the team,” James said. “There’s so many other factors that I’m factoring in right now on what best fits me as a player, what best fits me as a person and what best fits my happiness, and also my family as well.”
At Fanatics Fest, an 11-year-old in the crowd asked James about free agency and his next team – “first of all, that was a hell of a question and some of the media people here probably should learn from the young fella,” James said – and the youngster got perhaps the best answer of the session, with James indicating that the 2026-27 season may not necessarily be his last as a player.
“It’s a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well,” James said. “Just for the last part of my career and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career ... I’m going to try to fit into whatever team I’m going into – but also give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I’ve been able to grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ins and outs of the game of basketball.”
James playfully chided Haliburton for asking him about his future – “didn’t we talk about this in the back?” James asked, and Haliburton said he would ”leave it alone.”
Of course, they didn’t leave it alone. James made reference to a slew of teams such as Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia and Golden State, though didn’t appear to give much in the way of hints. He did sip from a bottle of red wine that he opened and shared with Haliburton, calling it one of his podcast traditions.
And when fans shouted out suggestions for James’ next team – one even asked him to play for the New York Yankees – no clues were forthcoming.
“We’ll see,” he said.
In Miami, where the Heat introduced Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr. as their newest forwards on Thursday, team president Pat Riley acknowledged there have been talks about a reunion with James.
But the Heat don’t seem to have any hints either.
“Right now, I think we’re like everybody else,” Riley said. “We’re just waiting to see what he does and then we’ll see what happens.”
Same goes for the NBA: Commissioner Adam Silver spoke at the Game Plan Summit not long after James on Thursday. Silver said he has a bit of an “inkling” on which way James is leaning, but no concrete word.
The league office, Silver said, would like to know for one specific reason.
“We have to finish up the schedule and where LeBron plays will affect the schedule,” Silver said. “So, I would like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule. As you can imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. It will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. I need him to make a decision. But the direct answer is I have no inside information.”
James is the NBA’s oldest active player at 41 and the only player in league history to have a career spanning 23 seasons; this coming season will be his 24th.