It wouldn't make much sense for LeBron James to end his career in a Miami Heat uniform, and ESPN's Brian Windhorst seems to agree. In his words, he wouldn't put the Heat on the shortlist of teams that LeBron would be comfortable with signing with this offseason.
For those Heat fans who were hoping for a LeBron reunion before the end of his career, well, this pretty much puts a cold damper on those dreams.
LeBron is in the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and could presumably leave this summer. There have been grumblings that he may, in fact, be positioning himself for such a move. But in what could be the final year or two of his career, Windhorst just doesn't see the Heat as a viable option for the Hall of Famer.
And, to be honest, it's hard to push back against that.
LeBron James doesn't make sense for the Heat
As LeBron inches closer to the end of his illustrious career, there are one of two things that he's going to prioritize as he maps out how he wants to put an exclamation point on his career. He must decide whether he wants to continue to maximize his earnings as a player or if he's willing to take slightly less to compete for another championship.
It's hard to see how the Heat would be able to appease LeBron on either front.
Unless something drastically changes at the start of the offseason, the Heat are not going to be viewed as a natural contender for LeBron to join, and Miami doesn't have the cap space to offer LeBron a huge max deal either.
I suppose they could work a sign-and-trade with the Lakers, but that seems quite unlikely. Especially when considering the big-picture questions the Heat will need to answer this offseason. At this point, Miami has much bigger worries than trying to make
If LeBron is looking to score one more big contract or join a contender for the stretch run of his career, there are going to be a few other teams that would make significantly more sense.
Looking across the league, there's reason to believe that teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, or even the Houston Rockets would make more sense. The Heat are not on that list.
Anything could change at any given moment in the NBA, but, at least for now, it doesn't appear as if Heat fans are going to get their dream of a LeBron reunion.