If LeBron James Sees ‘The Odyssey’ Before Making His Free-Agent Decision, He Has Just One Choice to Make

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, now in theaters.

I waited all week for Friday afternoon. A friend secured two tickets to a local IMAX screen—not 70mm, sorry cinephiles—for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem that has taken the cinema world by storm.

With seconds to spare, I made it to my seat and ensured my phone was on vibrate like any civil moviegoer. Each time my phone buzzed in my pocket, I felt an existential dread. Is this the long-awaited notification that will tell me where LeBron James will play his 24th NBA season?

For any sensible person, that’s not an issue. The movie theater is one of the few places where you can disregard the outside world and give your undivided attention to one specific thing. And I was quite excited for the 172-minute run time where my entire line of sight would be filled with Nolan’s latest film.

As an NBA writer, though, who would I be if I was tied up when the biggest story in basketball finally reached its conclusion? My Sports Illustrated colleague Dan Lyons also spent a good chunk of his Friday in the theater seeing The Odyssey. Between the two of us, there was about a six-hour chunk where we were convinced LeBron would make his next, and presumably final, decision of his storied career. Absolutely certain of it.

When I left the theater and waited in line for the bathroom—because apparently this movie is so big that it warrants bathroom lines—I just had a few emails and texts come across my screen. No LeBron news that felt like it was brewing the whole week, no Friday news dump. My wife just wanted to know my thoughts on where to pick up dinner on my way home.

Now, as James remains a free agent one day later, I couldn’t help but wonder whether he’s on an odyssey of his own.

Could LeBron James be on his own Odysseus arc?

Alright, I’m well aware that I’m taking the liberty of making this comparison, but the parallels are there. The premise of The Odyssey chronicles the king of Ithaca, Odysseus—played by Matt Damon in Nolan’s adaptation—and his 20-year long journey home after the Trojan War.

Odysseus and some of his soldiers hid inside a large wooden horse, the “Trojan Horse,” presented as a gift to deceive the Trojans. Once inside, they took Troy but Odysseus violated Zeus’s law—the golden rule to treat others the way you want to be treated—in the process.

The violations caused the gods to derail Odysseus’s journey back to Ithaca in numerous, dramatic ways. The winds took Odysseus and his crew off track and to the island of the one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon. In an escape plan, Odysseus blinds Polyphemus and pisses off Poseidon, the god of the seas, who makes the rest of the journey all the more difficult.

Next stops include an attack from man-eating giants, a run-in with a witch, a sound which destroys sailors and a choice between a deathly whirlpool in the sea or a six-headed monster. After getting through that while losing some of the crew along the way, Odysseus and his remaining sailors land on the island of Helios, the god of the sun. Odysseus advises his crew to stay away from Helios’s cattle, but they are so hungry that they disobey his command. On the way out, Zeus sends a massive storm that only Odysseus survives.

He washes ashore on the island of Ogygia, where Calypso heals him and uses him as her companion for seven years, unknowingly to Odysseus. Once released, he gets help to finally return home to Ithaca but hides his identity in an effort to overtake the suitors who are all vying for his wife Penelope’s hand in marriage. And as a product of that, his throne.

After that long of a time, few remain loyal to Odysseus—mainly his wife, his son and his faithful servant. Over two decades, it’s not a stretch to think Odysseus won’t return, but those closest to him kept the faith and plotted to destroy the suitors, carefully reveal Odysseus’s true identity and ultimately restore order in Ithaca.

What does this all have to do with LeBron James, you ask?

Well, he is “The King” after all and he did just finish an eight-year journey away from home. After his record 23rd NBA season, he informed the Lakers he would return for another year, but it wouldn’t be with them. As an unrestricted free agent, he has the freedom to go where he chooses and finish his career in the place he sees fit.

After eight seasons in Los Angeles as a Laker, numerous suitors have emerged as a logical next (and presumably final) stop for various reasons. There’s the Warriors where James could link up with another NBA legend in Steph Curry, plus coach Steve Kerr and his close friend Draymond Green. There’s the Heat, freshly off the acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo, where James went for four seasons from 2010 to '14 and won his first two championships. The 76ers make sense, too, after their trade for Jaylen Brown as a potential title contender with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. And even the Timberwolves, who have a glaring hole at forward that James could fill nicely to round out another championship contender alongside Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Rudy Gobert.

But the longest rumored suitor for James is the Cavaliers, his hometown team who had the fortune of drafting him with the first pick in '03 NBA draft. He returned to the Cavs for a second stint after his time in Miami and led Cleveland to the franchise’s first and only title, which it won in '16.

The Cavs made a run to the Eastern Conference finals last year behind Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and James Harden. Cleveland has made the playoffs in four straight seasons which followed a well-executed rebuild after James’s most recent departure. Harden declined his player option for next season to become a free agent, but he’s expected to return to Cleveland for his first full season with the Cavs.

Whether James returns home or not, the Cavs will be an Eastern Conference contender. Like the other basketball fits on paper, LeBron fills a real roster need for Cleveland. The franchise lost Dean Wade to the 76ers in free agency and could fit seamlessly into the Cavs’ starting lineup and take plenty of pressure off of Mitchell and, presumably, Harden. James adjusted to a secondary role for the first time in his career last year behind one of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves and sometimes both. Both Dončić and Reaves were injured to start the playoffs, which put James back in the lead spot. He led the Lakers to a first-round win over the Rockets, proving he can still operate as a primary option when needed, even at 41 years old.

On top of the basketball fit, Cleveland would be LeBron’s most poetic next destination. He has nothing left to prove, it’s all about winning and happiness at this point. Cleveland clearly still holds a big place in his heart. That much was made clear when he got emotional while on the bench during a tribute video prepared by the Cavs in the Lakers’ sole trip to Rocket Arena last season.

There’s a case that he could be happier elsewhere, too. I’m on the record predicting that James goes to the Warriors, with a big reason for that being he’ll be in a locker room with his pals and he can remain in the same state where his family has built a home base over the past eight years.

However, James is very aware of his legacy and the most romantic ending to his career would certainly be a final stop in Cleveland where the prodigal son returns home. If LeBron finds himself in a theater taking in The Odyssey, he could relate to Odysseus debatably better than anyone else. He won’t have to get past a cyclops, six-headed monsters or existential forces sending never-ending storms his way. But maybe his eight-year run with the Lakers was his version of a yearslong stop on Ogygia.

It’s a safe bet that James will watch Nolan’s latest film at some point, he narrated a promotion for The Odyssey centered around himself and his son, Bronny, ahead of the NBA playoffs. The myth of Odysseus is an ancient tale where all roads, no matter how difficult, lead home. It’s a cultural crossover that’s taking place at an interesting time: one of the greatest athletes ever is at a crossroads where one fork in the road provides a straight route home after nearly a decade elsewhere. Will a nicely timed movie release hit James in a way that makes his decision more clear? Probably not, but it’s a fun thought exercise. If there’s even the slightest chance that LeBron hasn’t made up his mind yet and this adaptation of The Odyssey helps him do so, the only right choice is a last leg in Cleveland. Because we all want to return home eventually, don’t we?

“No legend worth watching took a straight and simple path,” he says in the promotional clip. “Nah, they chose challenges and change ups every step of the way.”

Will James fend off the suitors? Time will tell.

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