{"id":3862,"date":"2026-07-06T21:09:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:09:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:09:56","slug":"surprise-frontrunner-emerges-in-lebron-james-sweepstakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862","title":{"rendered":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>LeBron James seems to be near a decision.  <\/p>\n<p>If the latest update on his free agent sweepstakes is true, James will sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers after leaving the NBA on its toes since he informed the Los Angeles Lakers he would be leaving the franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3860\">Dem Graham Platner cancels multiple Maine Senate campaign events, reflects on \u2018path forward\u2019 after\u00a0bombshell sex assault accusation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Teams reportedly interested in the four-time NBA champion aren\u2019t optimistic about their chances of landing James, according to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve talked to people in Philly, and I\u2019m like what do you think? Everybody I talk to is like, \u2018we\u2019re afraid it\u2019s Cleveland,&#8217;\u201d Windhorst said on the Pardon My Take podcast. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody seems like they have optimism.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Returning to Cleveland was always the storybook ending for James since he began his career with the Cavaliers. <\/p>\n<p>At 41 years old, James is still a productive player as he is coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists. He shot 51.5% from the field and 31.7% from beyond the arc in 60 games with the Lakers. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3858\">Graham Platner\u2019s ex Jenny Racicot accuses him of rape, says Maine Senate hopeful was \u2018very drunk and wouldn\u2019t take no for an answer\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 2025\u201326 campaign marked the first time James had missed opening night for the first time in his 23-year NBA career because of a sciatica injury. Despite missing the start of the season, James played a crucial role for the Lakers down the stretch after Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Austin Reaves sustained injuries in the final weeks of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>James spearheaded the Lakers\u2019 postseason run, which ended in the second round of the NBA playoffs after the Oklahoma City Thunder swept LA in four games. <\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Game 4 loss to OKC marked James\u2019 final game in a Lakers uniform. <\/p>\n<p>Now, it appears the next chapter for James may be a poetic one as Cleveland appears to be the winner of his free agency sweepstakes. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div>\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn<br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X<br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong>Opinion <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: Download here!<br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: Sign up here!<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3856\">Belgium sends warning to US after Folarin Balogun cleared to play at World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the Golden State Warriors and others in pursuit of LeBron James, the feelings aren&#8217;t optimistic about their chances of signing him, according to Brian Windhorst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the Golden State Warriors and others in pursuit of LeBron James, the feelings aren&#039;t optimistic about their chances of signing him, according to Brian Windhorst.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862\"},\"wordCount\":417,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"NBA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862\",\"name\":\"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=3862#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"For the Golden State Warriors and others in pursuit of LeBron James, the feelings aren't optimistic about their chances of signing him, according to Brian Windhorst.","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes","datePublished":"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862"},"wordCount":417,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp","articleSection":["NBA"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862","name":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-06T21:09:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/12f0530c2d853272b09167c9f1b5fc90.webp","width":1200,"height":799},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3862#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Surprise frontrunner emerges in LeBron James sweepstakes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}