Chris Bosh Will Be the Summer of LeBron’s Fun, Intriguing Subplot

The NBA-watching world’s eyes are watching LeBron right now, and will for much of this summer. We know that, and we know why. But it’s going to be a lot more fun to watch Chris Bosh.Friday, a report circulated that free agent-to-be Bosh gave Toronto management a list of five teams he wanted to play for in case the Raptors wanted to work a sign-and-trade; today, Bosh took to Twitter to retort and debunk.

That link points to a RealGM article wherein Bosh’s agent denies any such list was given to the Raptors. That tweet points to the wonderful new phenomenon of the coveted free agent who can speak to the people without traditional media.

While Bosh’s tweet about where he should go struck The Baseline’s Eric Freeman as insincere and drew criticism from Canadian columnist Bruce Arthur, I see that less as requesting unnecessary information and more as n honest temperature-taking. Bosh has been revealed to be thoughtful and funny on Twitter and elsewhere, and more than once or twice, and I think, despite a lamentable push for more followers, he understands that his actions on Twitter can read as the pandering of an egotist. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt: Maybe he just wanted to know what fans thought, or see what pitches they could make.

But beyond what you think of Bosh’s tweeting of his decision-making process, the important thing is this: You can think something of it. LeBron is a monolith, protected by wealth and advisors and whatever William Wesley is. Dwyane Wade tweets, but more about his personal life than his ball-playing and city-choosing. Bosh is providing his fans with a chance to see what he’s thinking and doing, and he’s by far the biggest American sports star to do this via Twitter. He’s spreading out tea leaves for all of us to read, and that’s pretty cool, even if they eventually mean nothing.

Half of the fun of free agency is making up outlandish scenarios and unspooling hypotheticals—after all, we are talking about where entertainers will ply their trade by playing a game—and Bosh seems willing to have fun with it. I’m fine with that.

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