The San Antonio Spurs may still technically have a path to LeBron James, but one former teammate thinks the fit would come with a real cost.
Even after San Antonio added Tobias Harris on a two-year deal, the Spurs remain in the mix for James in free agency. The catch is obvious: it would take a low-value contract, though James has said he’d be open to taking less if it puts him in a bigger role on a good team.
On paper, the Spurs check a lot of boxes. In reality, they look like a long shot. Miami, Cleveland, Minnesota and Philadelphia all appear to have the edge over San Antonio.
The appeal is easy to see. James would instantly be the best forward on the roster, even at 42, and he’d slide ahead of both Harris and Julian Champagnie. He can still score, pass and, even if the defense isn’t what it once was, he’s far from a liability on that end.
But Mario Chalmers, who spent four seasons with James in Miami and won two titles alongside him, doesn’t think the move makes sense for the Spurs’ current direction. His concern isn’t talent. It’s the ripple effect.
"Tobias Harris was a great pickup for the Spurs, just because he and Champagnie are kind of the same player, and they kind of bring the same thing to the floor, so you really don’t lose anything with either one," prefaced Mario Chalmers in an interview with DJ Siddiqi. "I’ll never pick Champagnie or Tobias Harris over LeBron James.
But LeBron with the Spurs, I don’t necessarily like it because they’re a young, fast team, and they’re still learning. When LeBron’s IQ is sometimes more than the coach’s, it will tend those young players to listen more to LeBron than the coach, and not on purpose, but just the IQ would be kind of different."
That’s the tension here. James would bring a level of command that could reshape the offense, and maybe even quiet some of the uncertainty around Mitch Johnson after the NBA Finals, especially with Sean Sweeney gone. But that same gravitational pull could also pull the Spurs away from the freestyle style they’ve been building.
Chalmers, for his part, isn’t sold.
"I think that’d be kind of a bad pickup in that regard."
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