"He'll be glowing. He'll be ready," said New York guard Larry Hughes, a former Cleveland teammate who keeps in touch with James. "He may not say he's ready, but he'll be ready to perform."
James seems to do something spectacular whenever he plays in New York. Last time it was a triple-double -- for a couple of days, anyway.
He lost one of the rebounds after a video review but still scored 52 points, joining Michael Jordan as the only visiting players with multiple 50-point games at the present building.
James can become a free agent on July 1 and the Knicks have cleared enough cap space to offer him a maximum salary contract. He's never said he wants to leave Cleveland, but he's never ruled out coming to New York, either, so his future will be hotly debated until then -- especially Friday.
"There will be a lot of intensity," James said. "The fact that we only play there once, there's going to be a lot of energy to the see the team and see us and see me. July 1 is right around the corner so it's going to be really exciting."
Friday's itinerary figures to feature 48 minutes of basketball and at least as much talk about free agency. James can tempt the fans, torture the Knicks and tease the media. And as usual, everyone will hang on his every word, hoping he drops some hints about his plans.
"Guarantee you first time he comes here, if he goes down the corner and has a bagel and says that was good, headline's going to say, 'Hey, LeBron loves New York food,"' TNT studio host Ernie Johnson said last week.
Others think he won't be able to resist New York, where he can make the Knicks relevant again on the court while making millions more off it in a much bigger market.
"That's a great story, but obviously that story might not play out," Smith said. "If it was going to play out, I think it would have played out already. I think we would have known last year what's going on. I think he's really entertaining moving. He's not a sentimentalist like we are right now."
James could refuse to talk about it, but he seems to enjoy the flirtation, meeting the media before games in New York when many superstars prefer to wait in the restricted trainer's room during pregame availability. He always makes sure to leave New Yorkers hope, such as last season when he said, "You have to stay open-minded if you're a Knicks fan."
"I don't tease," James said Thursday. "I have never teased the New York media by saying I was coming to New York or playing for the Knicks. I say the same thing every time. When July 1 gets here, I'm going to approach it like a businessman and approach it the best way for LeBron and his family, but I've been a Cav for seven years now and I've never given any indication of leaving.
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