Rich Paul believed LeBron James was headed back to the Heat before choosing the 76ers

LeBron James is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, which was a long time coming. After exiting the Los Angeles Lakers, the rest of the league wanted James despite him being 41. That just goes to show his longevity is elite because he is still getting league-wide offers at his age.

While he considered plenty of teams, there were some favorites, including his former team, the Miami Heat. His superagent from Klutch Sports, Rich Paul, thought Miami was the destination throughout the past few weeks. However, it seems LeBron felt it was right to join the 76ers after seeing their roster.

LeBron James almost went back to Miami in the 2026 offseason

LeBron is still one of the league's best players at 41, so it is not a surprise that teams fought for his signature. At the end of the day, he made the decision that will best suit his goals of winning a championship, and the 76ers were the team that stood out to him.

Mike Gansey and Bob Myers have done an awesome job of re-constructing the team that Daryl Morey built. They entered the season with the current team and Paul George and with some savvy moves, they now have James and Brown on the same roster.

MORE: What LeBron James joining the 76ers means for the Warriors, Heat, and Cavaliers

It is one of the most prolific offseasons of any team in recent memory. Pulling off the trade for a recent All-NBA Second Team player like Brown and then signing quite possibly the greatest player in NBA history on top of that is a masterclass by the 76ers' front office. However, they almost missed out on LeBron had they not traded for Brown.

"I spoke to Rich Paul about that about an hour ago; he said for a lot of the time he thought it was going to end up being Miami. That seemed to be a nice fit and story, but he said, 'When you've been to a place before, when you've won at a place before, if you go back it may not be the same.' You kind of want to leave those memories where they were, as they are. They had a great time together when they won two titles down in Miami," Ramona Shelburne said on ESPN about the Heat missing out on Bron.

The Heat could have had Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo pairing with James. They still have an impressive roster with those two, but they could have had a much better roster with James as the star player. It will be a fun matchup to watch because the Eastern Conference is loaded with top-level talent now.

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