Report: Lakers players believed LeBron James would sign with Warriors

For most of this month, people across the NBA landscape were left to speculate which team LeBron James would sign with in free agency after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers . His process of officially choosing a new team took more than three weeks after the Lakers were told he wouldn't stay with them, and some wondered if he was intentionally prolonging the process in order to soak up more attention and headlines.

In the end, he chose the Philadelphia 76ers -- and while it wasn't shocking, it was somewhat surprising, given that the 76ers already have three legitimate stars in Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and newcomer Jaylen Brown.

For a while, the Golden State Warriors were one of the frontrunners to land the 41-year-old. Internally, members of the Lakers thought that's where he was headed, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic .

"Like anyone talking to people close to James throughout this free agency, I knew very little. I knew the things that James and his team had previously talked about valuing. I knew which places could best offer it, and I knew that when James picked, I’d be able to pick through the pieces of evidence that revealed themselves in his final months with the Lakers.

"Had the destination been Golden State — the predicted landing spot by plenty inside the Lakers’ locker room — the reasoning would’ve been easy to put together."

Woike outlined the reasons Golden State seemed to make lots of sense for James.

"James would be able to stay on the West Coast where he and his family had made their home the past eight years. He’d be able to play with people his age. It’s easy to imagine the amazing dinners and amazing bottles of wine, the conversations beginning with, 'Remember when,' while the defining winners of a generation — James, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr — put the finishing touches on an era of NBA basketball."

Melissa Rohlin of the California Post wrote recently that James' daughter Zhuri, a talented pre-teen volleyball player, would be a major influence in his decision and ultimately guide him to the Warriors.

Instead, he's headed to the City of Brotherly Love, where he will walk into a team that's already loaded and will have a very real chance of winning the NBA championship. He agreed to a two-year, $8 million contract, which represents a very drastic pay cut from the $52.6 million he made last season.

The second year of that new contract is a player option, which means that this coming season may not be the final one for the future Hall of Famer.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Report: Lakers players believed LeBron James would sign with Warriors

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