For months, there have been LeBron James rumors indicating the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar might leave the team for a new one. Now, according to sources and reports from ESPN, it appears "The King" is looking to write that next chapter in his career. It was announced that he has declined his player option on the final year of his contract with Cleveland. That means he will now contemplate which team he is playing for next season, with the Lakers and Rockets among potential landing spots.

LeBron declines player option

On Friday morning, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported that LeBron James has decided to not pick up that player option for the final year of his contract with the Cleveland Cavs.

That means he'll officially become an unrestricted free agent based on information from ESPN and "multiple reports," per McMenamin. LeBron had up until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday to inform the team of his intentions.

The next move will be James announcing his next NBA team. Sports fans and the rest of the league will be watching for LeBron's actual decision on an NBA team. Free agency begins this Saturday as of 12:01 a.m. ET. There still appears to be several NBA teams that are frontrunners to land "King James" for next season.

LeBron to Lakers?

Oddsmakers shifted attention to the Los Angeles Lakers as odds-on-favorite for LeBron's next team. Now, with the announcement of his free agency, it seems to make more sense. There have been ongoing reports that LeBron has tried to recruit other NBA stars to join up with him. One of the most recent is Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors, who already seems to have a good squad that's winning him titles.

However, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are two guys that have some potential to join James. Of them, George seems to make more sense as he just opted out of his contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Landing Kawhi would actually mean trading for him, and it would probably mean the Lakers would part way with a lot of players and assets. It would leave very little team beyond the stars.

The Lakers have repeatedly mentioned that they were working aggressively to clear up enough room to sign two NBA stars. For a while, reports have indicated that Paul George and LeBron James were their two targets.

Most BR writers predict Lakers

A new Bleacher Report article has eight of their NBA writers providing their thoughts on which team LeBron James will join. Of those eight, five have the Lakers as their pick, with a sixth writer saying the "Lakers or Cleveland Cavaliers." As of right now that "or Cleveland Cavaliers" looks less likely based on the recent developments.

While the Lakers are odds-on-favorites and seem like the destination, one shouldn't count out the Houston Rockets. This team came the closest to defeating the mighty Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. They went a full seven games in the series but ultimately lost while Chris Paul was sidelined. Having LeBron on that squad would present an interesting challenge to the team that has defeated him three out of the last four NBA Finals.

The Lakers or Rockets could present LeBron the best winning opportunities, while the Cavs are still getting there. With that said, ESPN's Dave McMenamin has also given some hope to Cleveland Cavaliers fans. McMenamin tweeted that declining the option has kept the Cavs in the mix of possible teams LeBron will announce he is playing for next season.

For now, speculation can continue as reports and NBA rumors about LeBron James swirl. Most likely, "The Decision" for 2018 will be announced within the next week.
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