Sources: LeBron James camp reached out to Knicks, New York wasn’t interested

LeBron James considered plenty of possibilities before signing with the 76ers.

Apparently, the reigning NBA champions weren’t one of them. At least not from the Knicks’ perspective.

Sources tell Hoops Wire that James’ camp reached out to New York at one point during his free agency, but the Knicks weren’t interested in pursuing him.

The reasoning was fairly straightforward, sources said. New York likes what it already has.

The Knicks are coming off an NBA championship and remain built around Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. They saw no reason to make a major alteration to that formula, even for James.

In fact, sources said the Knicks believe they remain better than the 76ers, despite Philadelphia’s headline-grabbing offseason. That’s certainly a more interesting debate now.

James ultimately chose Philadelphia and joined a roster that already featured Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and All-Rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, along with newly acquired All-NBA forward Jaylen Brown. On paper, it’s about as loaded as it sounds.

But New York just won the title. The Knicks know their core works together, know it can survive four playoff rounds, and apparently weren’t interested in disrupting it to accommodate James, who will turn 42 in December.

That’s notable considering how James’ free agency played out. Cleveland, Miami, Golden State and Philadelphia received most of the attention, with several other teams making their interest known.

The Knicks could have joined the chase. They chose not to. Now they’ll get to see James anyway, only as a division rival on what figures to be one of their biggest obstacles in the Eastern Conference.

And yes, Knicks-Sixers suddenly became even more interesting.

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