If Knicks hadn't won title, LeBron James would be signing with them, agent Rich Paul says

Rich Paul sat down with a pointer and a whiteboard, laying out all of the possibilities for LeBron James to consider as he decides where to take his talents next. But with all of the lineups and pluses and minuses, Paul made it clear that if the Knicks hadn’t just won the franchise’s first title in 53 years, there would be no need for any of this.

Speaking on his “Game Over” podcast with co-host Max Kellerman, Paul, the CEO and founder of Klutch Sports and James’ agent, made it clear that it would have been an easy choice.

“I think it’s difficult, right, because the last thing you want to do is mess up something like that, right,” Paul said. “The Knicks [have] a good thing going, you know. If the Knicks hadn’t have won, there would be no board. He’d be going to the Knicks.”

But the Knicks did win the title, and though Paul didn’t completely rule the Knicks out, noting “they’ve checked in,” a league source said the Knicks are happy with the core of their team and continue to work around the fringes of that core.

The James-to-the-Knicks situation would be an awkward one despite the years they have spent chasing stars, particularly James. Their starting five is as solid as any in the league and was a major reason they won despite the skeptics’ insistence that they didn’t have the level of superstar that some other teams boast.

Though they don’t have a single first-team All-NBA player on the roster, the Knicks clearly are centered around Jalen Brunson, the captain and somehow still underrated star.

Paul acknowledged that, noting that “Jalen Brunson would literally have to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, man, it is no issue with me. It’s no issue with me,’ and I’m not saying that it would [mean that James would choose the Knicks].”

Kellerman noted that the Eastern Conference has gotten better with the high-profile trades of Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors and Jaylen Brown to the 76ers, and he offered that as a reason why James could fit with the Knicks.

“Everyone is tooling up, and because the whole conference got better — and the Knicks lost Mitchell Robinson, by the way, to the Celtics — I think the Knicks are more reasonably on the board in terms of the way the public would perceive it than they would’ve been,” Kellerman said.

Paul’s whiteboard, however, reflected the reality now, detailing five teams linked to James — the 76ers, Heat, Timberwolves, Nuggets and Cavaliers — with the lineups and how James would fit.

On the fringes of the board were other teams such as the Knicks and Spurs, with no detail, and other possible attractions such as “Steph/Draymond,” indicating Golden State, or Brad (Stevens) and (Jayson) Tatum for the Celtics.

But Paul said that while New York might be an easy choice against a reloaded Eastern Conference, bringing a player of James’ stature into the mix is a complicated matter no matter how willing the stars in place and James would be to try to make it work.

“LeBron’s always judged different, though,” Paul said to Kellerman. “I understand what you say as a fan of the Knicks, and as you know someone who has been around sports forever, but he’s just always judged different. And that’s a very fragile thing, and he’s been a part of championship teams . . .

“Here’s the thing: He’s been a part of a championship team with people coming on to the team. When LeBron comes on to your team, I don’t care if you just won a championship, I don’t care if you’ve been the best player, it’s different, man. His enterprise value and what he just carries is different. And [Knicks coach] Mike Brown knows this. And I respect the fact that he wouldn’t . . . wouldn’t want to mess that up.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.