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LeBron James wants the world, and the 6-foot-9 owner capable of staring him in the eye will walk into his first free-agent meeting on Thursday and offer it. The Nets will offer him the borough of Brooklyn and pledge to overtake the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden. They’ll promise him a vision of turning the franchise into a global basketball destination. Two self-made global moguls, Prokhorov and minority owner Jay-Z, will come calling to convince James to join up and make it a threesome.

Watson would like to play for Lakers

Add Earl Watson to the list of the point guards the Lakers are taking a strong look at, a league source said.

Watson lives in the Los Angeles area with his actress wife, and his first preference would be to sign with the Lakers, the source said. The Lakers are high on Steve Blake, but would prefer to not spend their entire midlevel exception, possibly making Watson an affordable option.

They want the veteran point guard back, but at a discount. Brian Shaw withdraws his name from consideration for the coaching job in Cleveland.

By Mike Bresnahan and Broderick Turner

10:50 PM PDT, June 30, 2010

The clock struck midnight on the East Coast, and the scramble began for too many teams to sensibly list in one sentence.

The Lakers, meanwhile, had their own issues on which to dwell Wednesday night, none of them including the frenzy surrounding LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

They called the agent for Derek Fisher right after free agency began and expressed interest in having the 14-year-veteran return for another run at a championship.

Fisher is the main free-agent concern for a team that is well over the salary cap but definitely wants him back without going too far beyond a $2.5-million deal for next season. Fisher, 35, wants to make closer to the $5 million he earned this past season.

The Lakers and Fisher did not agree to terms Wednesday, but there was definitive movement involving two Lakers' reserve guards earlier in the day.

Shannon Brown officially opted out of a contract that would have paid him $2.15 million next season, making him an unrestricted free agent., and the Lakers decided not to tender a qualifying offer of about $3 million to Jordan Farmar, making him an unrestricted free agent who can also sign wherever he wants.

Just the same, the Lakers called the agent for Brown within minutes of the advent of free agency to also express interest in re-signing him.

. . .

Nets arrived a few minutes ago. Brought a bunch of luggage on cart and large computer box, ready for presentation.

Always knew this would be surreal. It is. James Dolan, Allan Houston, Donnie Walsh, Mike D'Antoni plus about 4 other execs in Knick party


Knicks arrive in 4, count 'em, 4 cars. They literally passed Jay-Z's car as hd left building.


Jay-Z has not left yet, Nets car waiting for him to head to airport. A private meeting with LeBron?


Nets had folders with LeBron's face integrated into logo

Thanks to his tireless efforts, the Rockets’ GM pulled another rabbit out of his hat by bucking the odds and somehow securing a face-to-face meeting with his target. Using a personalized Chris Bosh iPad as part of his presentation, Morey showed the 6- 10 Texas-native video testimonials from the likes of Yao Ming, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Elvin Hayes. He also focused on the Rockets’ incredible depth and tremendous supporting cast – perhaps the two key components of Houston’s pitch which sets it apart from the rest of the teams playing the free agent field. In talking to Morey after the fact, it was clear he felt positively about both the meeting and the Rockets’ chances going forward. You can’t ask for a much better start to the free agent frenzy than that. Via NBA.com

David Aldridge wrote:

The Milwaukee Bucks have had one of the best offseasons of any team in the league, and they are close to pulling off another surprising move. The Bucks are on the verge of re-signing guard John Salmons, one of the top shooting guards available in free agency -- and thought to be on the move after opting out of his deal last month -- to a five-year, $39 million contract. The deal also includes $5 million in potential bonuses, according to a source, and two league sources say the Bucks have a buyout option for the fifth season.

KingLakers wrote:Drew Gooden has much better numbers than Shannon the deal he got is a MLE deal no team will give Shannon the MLE.