He isn't the only one eagerly awaiting news of which team LeBron James will play for next season. But Adam Silver, as NBA commissioner, is the person who will be most affected by “The King’s” decision.

On June 30, the all-time leading scorer on the “magical planet” announced that he would not be returning to Los Angeles and would not wear the Lakers’ jersey again. From that day until now, there have been plenty of suitors, but now there are three teams pushing hard to sign him. Barring any major surprises, LeBron will play for one of the following teams in the 2026–27 season: the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Philadelphia 76ers. Will he play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo? Will he return (once again) to the place where he grew up? Will he turn the 76ers from strong… to unstoppable?

For Silver, there’s no… preference. All he wants is an answer so he can finalize the schedule for the season that begins in October. The NBA commissioner stated that the league and its television partners cannot finalize key dates on the schedule until they know which team LeBronJames will play for.

Adam Silver’s desire to know James’s next destination pales in comparison to the impatience of LeBron’s fans, but rather stems from purely practical reasons, as his decision will play a significant role in shaping the season’s schedule, both in terms of the league’s broader needs and, above all, those of its television partners.

““The team LeBron will play for will influence the schedule,” Adam Silver clarified on Thursday at the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit. “So I’d like him to make his announcement soon so we can finalize the schedule. As you can imagine, the teams are calling us, the TV networks are calling us, and everyone wants the schedule to be finalized. His decision will affect how we shape the schedule, the season opener, the Christmas games, and much more. So, I need him to make his decision.”

He also added that “he has no inside information” regarding which team James will end up with, though he admitted he has his own “hunch” about what will happen, without wanting to reveal it publicly.

The NBA’s television partners 

In July 2024, the NBA signed the largest television rights deal in the history of American sports. The new contract runs for 11 years (through the 2035–36 season) and is worth a total of approximately 76 billion dollars. That’s nearly seven billion dollars per year.

The rights are divided among three major television and digital providers: Disney, through ABC and ESPN; NBCUniversal, through NBC and Peacock; and Amazon, through the Prime Video platform.

Disney retains the exclusive rights to broadcast the NBA Finals. Last year, NBC returned to broadcasting live games after more than twenty years… of absence, and also broadcast the All-Star Weekend and the conference finals. Amazon also holds the rights to broadcast the Play-In Tournament, the NBA Cup, playoff games, and the conference finals.

*photo source: AP