Did the New York Knicks just take a major step toward landing a superstar tandem?
The Knicks hired William Wesley — aka “World Wide Wes” — earlier this week as executive vice president/senior basketball adviser. Wesley, a longtime friend of Knicks president Leon Rose, is a former consultant for Creative Artists Agency and is well-connected across the basketball world.
In fact, Rose and Wesley both have ties to LeBron James, which got Nick Wright thinking: Could James wind up with the Knicks after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers?
While perhaps unlikely, Wright explained Thursday on FS1’s “First Things First” that we shouldn’t write off the possibility, even wondering whether James Harden could join James in the Big Apple.
“LeBron’s a free agent in 2022. He always talks about the Garden. Maybe they hire Jason Kidd to be the head coach. Maybe (Knicks owner James) Dolan takes a step back. You’ve got World Wide Wes,” Wright said. “James Harden’s a free agent in 2022, as well. (NBA insider Chris) Broussard has declared he’ll never win a title as the main guy. Maybe he goes to New York.
“I’m just saying. LeBron wins a couple of titles in LA, gets rings four and five in LA, ring six in New York, age 37, 38, similar to Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) age-38 ring with the Lakers. I’m just saying. Don’t say it’s impossible.”
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LeBron James and James Harden to the New York Knicks in 2022?! ?@getnickwright explains how it's *possible*: pic.twitter.com/0kSZ9amOP7
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) June 25, 2020
James, a three-time champion, is in the midst of his second season with the Lakers after signing a four-year, $154 million contract with Los Angeles in July 2018. Right now, his focus almost certainly is on winning an NBA title after the 2019-20 season resumes in late July, but who’s to say he won’t take his talents elsewhere once his current contract expires?
Of course, James will be 37 years old the next time he hits free agency, so it’s hard to predict how much gas he’ll have left in the tank by that point. But he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down just yet.
Then again, signing a high-profile player on his last legs would be a textbook Knicks move.
