That so-called summit with the top free agents in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others will not happened, says NBA Commissioner David Stern Thursday when he addressed the media prior to the start of the NBA Finals. This was at the request of several teams who have big-name players expected to become free agents July 1. In a New York...
NBA Commissioner David Stern says LeBron James and other free agents will not have a summit on free agency. That so-called summit with the top free agents in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others will not happened, says NBA Commissioner David Stern Thursday when he addressed the media prior to the start of the NBA Finals.
This was at the request of several teams who have big-name players expected to become free agents July 1. In a New York Daily News story, league lawyers in the last few days called agents for the players to find out about a potential meeting.
"There's not going to be a summit," said Stern, without revealing the names of the teams that complained.
Stern said he would have allowed a meeting, but would have objected to it on the grounds that it could have resulted in a violation of the league's tampering rules.
All of this free agent talk has upstaged the NBA Finals and Stern is not happy about that. Stern's unhappiness became apparent when he had to field several questions about the summit, writes Mitch Lawrence of The Daily News.
"They'd be better off watching these Finals to see how you construct a team and how you play and the like," Stern said.
Team USA expects LeBron
LeBron James has said in recent interviews that he will probably not play for Team USA this summer, but Jerry Colangelo, CEO of USA basketball, expects James to be in New York this summer when Team USA holds training camp.
In August, Team USA will face France in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden as it prepares for the World Championships in Turkey.
James, according to The New York Post, James likely will be in New York regardless for Nike, even if he doesn’t play in the France exhibition or the Worlds, held Aug. 29 to Sept. 12.
James has said he is leaning toward not playing for Team USA because of his free agency, though his playoff spring was cut well short. James is not alone. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are in the same free-agent boat. Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony have said they probably will not play either.
"Because of free agency, LeBron, Bosh, Wade in particular, and Kobe [Bryant] with a [knee] injury, Carmelo, who’s getting married, and Howard, who may pass for myriad [of] reasons, it’s possible we’ll have a number of new people," Colangelo said. "Which is why we have a 31-man roster."
Flip flop
President Barack Obama said LeBron James should consider playing for the Chicago Bulls, Obama's favorite team, a few weeks ago. Now the president has changed his mind. In an interview with CNN:
Said Obama: "That's a town that has had some tough times." The president said it would be a wonderful statement to Cleveland if James said: "I'm going to make a commitment to this city."