Philadelphia 76ers Think LeBron "Considered Us Very Strongly"

James officially signed with the Lakers on Monday.

Even though LeBron James made his decision to sign with the Los Amgeles Lakers on the second day of free agency, the Philadelphia 76ers believed that the King considered them very strongly.

"I think they considered us very strongly," Sixers managing parner Josh Harris told ESPN on Monday. "I think he -- I would be speculating on how he makes his decisions, and I don't want to do that -- but I think that they were really serious [about Philadelphia]. The fact that they took the meeting with us was something that they didn't view lightly, so I think that they were very serious about it."

According to Harris, Philadelphia believed its strong core of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz and Dario Saric could have convinced James to stay in the easier Eastern Conference. Instead, LeBron will join a different young core in Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart in Los Angeles.

After turning their attention away from James, Philadelphia re-signed J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson and added Nemanja Bjelica and Wilson Chandler. The team is also hoping that Fultz's recovery from injury goes well. If Fultz can return to his college form, it appears the Sixers are expected to be contenders even without LeBron for the time being.