Reports on Thursday morning, starting with Stephen A. Smith, are that LeBron James is leaning towards signing with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (also known as the Miami Heat, since they might be the only players on the roster when he gets there).
ESPN's Chris Broussard, who's next gig will be guessing as a blind weather man, claims the Knicks aren't out of it, because "it's New York." James is also mindful that the Bulls have the best cast to put around him.
No matter what LeBron tells the world on Thursday night, people will be impacted one way or another. Obviously there are millions that stand to have their hearts broken in any of the cities he turns down.
Let's look at five individuals that will be most impacted by LeBron's choice.
5. John Paxson
No longer the General Manager in Chicago, Michael Jordan's kick-out target nearly 20 years ago is the President of Basketball Operations for the Bulls now.
So far in his tenure with the Bulls, he's dealt with Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler being worthless, he allegedly turned down a trade for Kobe Bryant, and he has failed to bring a superstar free agent to the Windy City.
He has also dealt with a couple of coaching changes. The latest of which followed reports that he and now-Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro were involved in a physical altercation during the season.
If he fails to land Wade, Bosh, and now LeBron, many in Chicago will likely continue to question his role with the organization.
Carlos Boozer is a nice piece, but whether or not it was necessary to dump as much salary as the Bulls did will be debated if they cannot land two top-tier players.
4. Amar'e Stoudemire
Stoudemire took a max deal earlier in the week from the New York Knicks and has been public in his recruiting of LeBron. He's even begged James to come to New York on Twitter.
If Thursday morning's reports are true, and LeBron is headed to Miami, then Stoudemire's Knicks will need to scramble to fill a roster around their new big man.
Otherwise, the team's new $100 million man will look forward to playing next to...Wilson Chandler and Eddy Curry?
3. David Lee
It appears more and more now that Lee will become the runner-up prize to someone that put all of their eggs in the LeBron basket. And he's not a bad player to "settle for," either.
Lee is a 20-10 guy who has been rumored to be jumping over the river to the Nets. In what could be a strange turn of events, LeBron going somewhere other than New York could actually make the Nets the better team for the next five seasons, built around a core of Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Derrick Favors, and possibly Lee.
Lee personally stands to cash in because there will be at least three, if not four teams that have an unused max contract waiting for him to come spend their money.
2. Danny Ferry & Mike Brown
After putting together one of the most competitive seasons in the history of the Cavaliers franchise, the organization decided that Mike Brown wasn't good enough to be their head coach and that Danny Ferry hadn't done his job as General Manager well enough to stay. So Ferry had to fire Brown, and was then removed from his position (in part because he didn't see why Brown needed to go).
Apparently the perception was that Cleveland's best chance to win was with LeBron, and he wouldn't stay if Brown and Ferry did.
If LeBron goes to Miami, both of these gentlemen will be vindicated.
Ferry did everything he possibly could to put a competitive team around James, bringing in players like Mo Williams, Delonte West, Antawn Jamison, and Shaquille O'Neal.
Brown did a solid job of winning the division, but the entire team failed in the playoffs.
Ferry and Brown will be seen as either necessary changes because LeBron stays, or martyrs because he left anyway.
1. Erik Spoelstra
What are the odds that Spoelstra stays Wade's and Bosh's coach if LeBron comes to South Beach?
Smart money says the bench looks more like it does in this photo, with Hall of Famer Pat Riley yet again jumping out of the team's suite and into the mix on the sidelines to coach the three superstars and scrubs that surround them.
There will be a lot of changes in Miami if LeBron joins Wade and Bosh, starting with sold out games and ending, perhaps, with five years of dominance not seen since Michael Jordan left Chicago.
