Maverick Carter: LeBron James will go where he can win

A longtime friend and business associate of LeBron James says the former NBA MVP prioritizes winning over everything else and will go where he thinks gives him the best chance of winning.

James has a player option for next season and could choose not to exercise it, which would make him a free agent. A lot of chatter has suggested that James would want to play for a team like the Lakers.

Maverick Carter, who is James’ manager, joined “The Rich Eisen Show” on Thursday and was asked how much of a factor location is where LeBron chooses to play.

“These days, it doesn’t matter anymore. The Lakers and the Knicks have been bad — the Knicks for a very long time, the Lakers since Kobe aged out of being one of the best players in the league,” Carter said. “And basketball is growing and doing as great as ever with teams in Oklahoma City and Cleveland. These days it doesn’t matter because you could be known or be a star from anywhere — anywhere in the world.

“Could he sell a few more sneakers if he was in a gigantic market like Boston or Chicago or New York or LA? Maybe, but not as much as if he wins. When you win as an athlete, that’s what matters the most,” said Carter.

Carter also downplayed the importance of being in LA for business/entertainment purposes for LeBron. He pointed out that James would only have a limited time in the offseason to film movies or TV shows anyhow.

If the Cavaliers fall short of a championship this season, James’ future will be an interesting situation to watch.