Philadelphia’s Recruitment of Lebron James Has Already Begun

 The 2017-2018 sports calendar has been the Year of the Philly fan. Although always passionate, the fans in this city have taken it to the next level with the energy surrounding the recent success of Philadelphia sports teams. Last night, the Sixers lost their first game since the Super Bowl. Despite the loss that broke a streak of 7 straight wins since the life changing moment that took in Minnesota, the palpable buzz around this Sixers team hasn’t wavered for fans.
 On Monday morning, billboards started popping up around the city of Cleveland as certain Sixers fans begin their recruitment of the best player on the planet and impending free agent, Lebron James:

 I’m envisioning Lebron driving to Quicken Loans Arena for a shoot-around and saying to himself, “that court with our starting line up numbers including mine with the crown looks really fucking cool”.
 These billboards come just a week after a rumor started swirling in the Philly area that Lebron had representatives checking out Malvern Prep for his kids if he were to choose the Sixers come this July. Here’s hoping Bronny Jr. stays close to home and chooses Villanova. With that Malvern Prep rumor, Lebron and Ben Simmons close relationship, Simmons’ Instagram post, Lebron’s admiration of the Sixers, and now the billboards, we are reaching insane levels of Lebron Free Agency hysteria before the Phillies are even out of Clearwater:
  (via Bill Simmons)
 Maybe I’m just the latest sucker to get caught up in the drama that is, Lebron: The Decision III, but The King choosing Philadelphia is starting to make too much sense not to happen. As someone who will have to spend a ridiculous amount of time scrubbing his Twitter of anti-Lebron bashing, I can attest this prediction isn’t Philly bias.
 The 76ers in their current state give Lebron James a unique destination option that he has not yet had. Due to Joel Embiid and Simmons immediate success in the league, they are still relatively inexpensive in comparison to say a lineup like the Heat Big 3, which required three max contracts surrounded by a plethora of veteran minimum players. The Sixers give Lebron the opportunity to play with two emerging stars yet to hit their prime coupled with cap space to start almost anew with a roster, like Lebron has done in the past when transitioning to a new team.
 Look, this is far from the last Lebron James article we are going to run from here to July. I’m already tired of Lebron’s Sixer era and it hasn’t even lasted as long as Frank Gore’s Eagle era yet. But, to be referred to as the laughing stock of the league to now being in the conversation as a landing spot for the best player in the league is far beyond what I ever imagined The Process being.
 For Cleveland, the misery is creeping back in. If you’ve ever seen Dead Man Walking, it’s basically just two hours of Sean Penn playing a convict and knowing he was going to die soon. So, yeah, that’s pretty much where the city of Cleveland is. At least Josh Allen can throw a football really far from his knees.
 Oh, and if anyone is able to put those billboard designs on a t-Shirt for us:
Image result for that would be great meme
By Aidan Powers | February 26, 2018