Every sportswriter in the country feels compelled to write about LeBron James and where he will sign now that he is a free agent. It’s kind of like the Tim Tebow effect, or the Brett Favre saga, or the Barry Bonds did steroids thing – it just feels like it needs to be written. So here I am, like all of those sportswriters, with very little idea where James will end up, but still about to put in my two cents in the form of this 700-word column.

Prior to the playoffs, I would have said without a doubt that James was staying in Cleveland. He had to. It was his hometown, the Cavaliers had finally invested in some other parts like Antawn Jamison and Shaquille O’Neal to supplement James and the Cavs were likely the best team in the league. However, now that James’ Cavaliers (we can still say they are his Cavaliers for now) were bounced early by Boston, everything has changed.

So where could James go? There are eight teams that have the salary cap space to sign King James. New York, New Jersey, Miami, Chicago, Minnesota, Sacramento, Washington and the Los Angeles Clippers – not to mention, of course, the Cavs. There are also a few teams like Dallas and Houston that could theoretically afford James through a sign and trade, but that is unlikely.

No offense to Minnesota or Sacramento, but James isn’t coming your way. Why? Because they are Minnesota and Sacramento.

Similarly, the Clippers can be probably be ruled out because they are the Clippers, and they are so horribly mismanaged (I’m looking at you, Donald Sterling) and unlucky that if James did sign there, he would probably be diagnosed with some incurable disease within days and never play basketball again.

Washington and New Jersey are probably out of the picture because they are terrible, although if the Nets get the first overall pick in the draft, James surrounded by John Wall and Brook Lopez looks pretty good. Furthermore, the Nets are moving to Brooklyn in two years, which is infinitely cooler than North Jersey, and they have the whole Jay-Z connection. That said, I don’t see James in one of those tacky Nets uniforms next year.

Miami is probably out as well, as it is focused on resigning Dwyane Wade. So focused that the organization launched www.wewantwade.com last week to try and keep the star around. Wade, however, was very frustrated with the lack of talent around him this year in Miami, so even if he doesn’t resign, it is doubtful that James would want to go to that situation.

That leaves New York, Chicago and Cleveland.

New York should be eliminated for the same reason as Washington and New Jersey – the Knicks are very, very bad – but I’m leaving them around because it is New York, and James could make an ungodly amount of money there and be the biggest star on the biggest stage. Furthermore, the Knicks have enough cap space to sign two max contract free agents, so it could be James and Amare Stoudemire, James and Joe Johnson or James and Chris Bosh in orange and blue.

Then there is Chicago. All things being equal, Chicago probably makes the most sense. It’s a big city, the Bulls are a team that already has some good parts like Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and they have a loyal fan base. But all things aren’t equal. There was some guy named Michael Jordan who played in Chicago, and no matter how great James is, he will never be MJ. LeBron wants to be a legend, and I don’t see him walking by the Jordan statue outside the United Center every day and always living in his shadow. LeBron needs to be the star on his stage, not Jordan’s.

So that leaves Cleveland. I think the Cavs still have to be seen as the favorite to land James, only slightly ahead of New York, which in turn is slightly ahead of Chicago. As frustrated as James may be with the Cavs organization and head coach Mike Brown (who will likely be fired before next season), it is where he is from, and he probably is closer to a title there than he is in New York.

Now I will leave you with some arbitrary odds for each team signing the King: Cleveland 2-to-1, New York 4-to-1, Chicago 6-to-1, New Jersey 10-to-1 and Miami 15-to-1.

Daniel Bohm wants to be a professional odds-maker. E-mail him advice at [email protected].