There’s a better chance of Elvis Presley and Tupac performing at the Minnesota State Fair than this ever happening, but research results from FiveThirtyEight suggest that LeBron James would have a fantastic chance to win a championship if he signed with the Timberwolves.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, the Wolves are one of six teams that would have a better than 50 percent chance of winning a championship within four years if LeBron were to sign.
The other five: Houston, Philadelphia, Boston, Utah and Golden State.
6 teams—Houston, Golden State, Philly, Utah, Minnesota, Boston—give LeBron greater than a 50% chance to win a title under a 4-year contract. Of those, we think Philly would be best for his legacy. pic.twitter.com/uWSBOF0qXj
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 28, 2018
More interesting is that Silver’s breakdown lists only three teams that LeBron would have the best shot to win a title without destroying his legacy: Minnesota, Utah and Philadelphia.
To make it work the Wolves would have to get LeBron to sign with the Cavaliers and then agree to a trade to Minnesota, likely sending Andrew Wiggins and Gorgui Dieng, or Jimmy Butler and Dieng, to Cleveland.
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“So from the perspective of winning ballgames, James could certainly do worse than jetting to the Twin Cities,” says Silver. “Our legacy grade for the T-Wolves, however, ranks 14th in the league, meaning that they’re sort of a neutral destination. He can probably do better.”
We can dream, right?
