LOS ANGELES, July 7 – NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James enlivened the wait with his first Twitter post on Tuesday, but gave no indication of his future plans.The 25-year-old Cleveland star has heard pitches from at least six NBA teams in recent days, including the Cavaliers who hope they have convinced him to stay with the team where he has spent all seven of his NBA seasons.
James is the biggest name in a marquee crop of free agents, who became free to negotiate last Thursday and can start signing contracts on this Thursday.
What he decides to do could have an impact on where such players as longtime Miami star Dwyane Wade and Toronto’s Chris Bosh end up.
"Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building," James tweeted on his new "kingjames" Twitter feed.
He also put in an appearance at his skills academy basketball camp in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, arriving later than expected and declining to talk to reporters.
"That’s the question," Cavaliers teammate Daniel Gibson said of what he thinks James will do. "I don’t know. I’m here with the hanging-out, having-fun LeBron. I’m not out here with the business LeBron."
James met with the Nets, Knicks, Heat, Clippers, Bulls and Cavaliers in Cleveland last week.
In the absence of real information, rumors abounded, with reports that Toronto was willing to do a sign-and-trade deal with Cleveland for Bosh.
Cleveland have a financial edge in that they can offer James more money to stay than any other team can offer him to move.
The New Jersey Nets went all out with their presentation to James last week, with new owner Mikhail Prokhorov flying to Cleveland for the meeting.
But the Nets have backup plans, and have talked to Knicks forward David Lee among others.
The Knicks have already reached an agreement in principle with Amare Stoudemire, while Rudy Gay, Dirk Nowitzki and Joe Johnson have decided to remain with their teams.
That leaves Lee and Carlos Boozer as the biggest names for the Nets to seek if they can’t land James, Wade or Bosh.
Wade, too, spoke with several teams last week, and was thought to be most interested in the Bulls, in his hometown of Chicago, as well as his current Heat team.
Back in Florida, Wade has been courted by fans and well-coached Heat employees whose chants of "We want Wade!" got a smile but no information from the player.
