The King That Got Away

As LeBron James walked off the floor of Madison Square Garden on February 1st, there was a lot of speculation. It was the Lakers’ only visit to the Garden this season, prompting many to wonder if this was the last time James would play at the world's most famous arena.

He had a good night in the loss, finishing with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. The Lakers are now Luka Doncic's team, but LeBron looms constantly, and many have wondered whether he could be the final championship piece for this current era of Knicks basketball.

The Knicks and LeBron have been rumored dance partners for over 15 years at this point, and as he nears the end of his marvelous basketball journey, it forces us to wonder for a moment. How would his career, and by proxy the perception of the Knicks, be different had New York been successful in their recruitment of him all those years ago? Additionally, is his potential late arrival in New York too little, too late?

The NBA in 2010 was a much different landscape than what it is today. Whereas teams in 2026 prioritize depth and the free-flowing movement of transactions are compromised by the apron system, 2010 offered different possibilities. In some respects, the result of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade making sacrifices and teaming up in Miami that summer altered the course of the NBA. They created the free agent superteam method, a slight evolution of the trade superteam that led to the Boston Celtics winning the Finals in 2008.

Heading into the summer of 2010, the Knicks were in search of a rejuvenation. The Patrick Ewing era was long over, and the Stephon Marbury experiment was a failure. They were on a streak of six consecutive losing seasons and hadn't made it out of the first round of the playoffs in a decade. That summer was when they would alter the course of the franchise, and LeBron James was supposed to be the person to do it.

After seven years in Cleveland and two MVP awards, LeBron wanted to go somewhere he could finally win an NBA title. After years of poor decisions and an inability to surround him with a competent second star, the Cavs were going to lose their cornerstone. The Knicks made trades to clear their cap sheet for the summer—all with the intention of signing James and at least one other high-end player hitting the market that cycle.

LeBron originally was sold on the Knicks as a concept. He has long had an admiration for the city and the Garden. He remarked recently, "It's the mecca of basketball here in New York City. Obviously, it's the Big Apple, being here at MSG, playing here. So many guys walked this court." There has always been a reverence and respect between LeBron and Knicks fans. Like many other stars, he recognizes the basketball intellect and passion the fan base possesses.

And yet, the Knicks weren't able to land this proverbial plane. There is such a thing as trying too hard, and that's exactly what the Knicks did in their pursuit of LeBron in 2010. The Knicks brought in the late James Gandolfini and Edie Falco to reprise their roles as Tony and Carmela Soprano to woo LeBron. Knicks owner James Dolan is reported to have come to the meeting with no preparation done. LeBron and his team, likely correctly, surmised that this was not a serious basketball operation, signed with Miami, and the rest is history.

The blunder by the Knicks led to the signing of Amar'e Stoudemire and the eventual acquisition of Carmelo Anthony. It was an era defined by management in chaos, and the on-court product often mirrored that. That team was plagued by the foils of Phil Jackson’s obsession with the triangle offense and a revolving door of coaches that led to only one playoff series win. But had they landed LeBron, it's safe to assume that so much would have been different.

It can be argued that LeBron James is the greatest floor raiser the NBA has ever seen. He took Cavs teams with mediocre rosters to 60-win seasons and deep playoff runs. If anyone could squeeze the most out of a roster, it has always been him.

With LeBron and a second star, it's likely the Knicks are an instant title contender in the East. That would have certainly complicated the eventual Carmelo Anthony trade, but with his friend already in place, it could be inferred that Anthony might have waited until the summer to sign with New York, assembling their own superteam.

The East at the time had the fading remnants of the old Celtics super team, the Bulls in the Derrick Rose era, and an Atlanta Hawks team incapable of winning multiple playoff series. It's not beyond the pale to suggest that LeBron on the Knicks with another star would have been an Eastern Conference Finals team at the very least. The Knicks also had young talent at the time in Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, whose skillsets would have been maximized by LeBron’s floor-raising capabilities.

Which leads to pondering about how he would be viewed. Titles are not created equally, just ask Kevin Durant. It's often said that the title that gets the most mileage for its winner is Dirk Nowitzki in the 2010-11 season because he shed the preconceived notion of his “soft” label and went through a gauntlet in the postseason to get it. Whereas someone like Durant is treated with eyerolls whenever anyone brings up his Golden State titles.

LeBron won back-to-back titles in Miami, but some discredited those at the time. He had become the villain of the NBA, forming a superteam and tilting the NBA’s competitive axis. But it can also be argued that much of that vitriol came from the fact that he was doing it in Miami. After all, Miami will forever be Dwyane Wade's town, and when James signed, the Heat were only five years removed from Wade delivering them a title. While LeBron took agency into his own hands, it could still be suggested that he latched on to Wade, whether that is a fair assessment to make or not.

Had he only won a single title in New York, the perception would have been completely different. His arrival to the Knicks would be viewed in the same vein as Patrick Ewing being drafted to the team in 1985. “The Decision,” while widely lampooned as not reading the room, might have been spun more positively by Knick fans due to LeBron’s desire to win being a core thesis of his reasoning to leave Cleveland. His arrival would have mirrored the way Jalen Brunson has become viewed today: as the savior of New York basketball.

A title in that circumstance would have immortalized James in the NBA pantheon. He would have been the player who chose New York, took on the pressure, and delivered the team's first championship since 1973. He would have been a god in the city, revered in a way that most players can only dream of.

In truth, LeBron did get that treatment eventually when he delivered a title to the Cavaliers in 2016. He became the hometown hero that was promised. But for a basketball historian like LeBron, you have to wonder if he sometimes wonders what it would have been like to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy at the Garden instead.

Those what-if scenarios are natural to consider today when the prospect of LeBron latching on to the Knicks to bolster their title hopes is considered. In his current form, LeBron is far from the ring-chaser designation. He's still considered a top-25 player in the league at age 41 and is averaging 21.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game.

But joining the Knicks now would ring a little hollow. This team and city are firmly in the palm of Jalen Brunson, and the added lore is simply not there in a LeBron addition this late in the game. During the prime of his career, LeBron scored 50 points on the Garden floor multiple times. It is intoxicating to wonder how many more of those we could have seen had he signed with the Knicks in 2010. But that feeling doesn't mean that signing him in 2026 is a good idea.