LeBron James has the NBA world waiting as he decides between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat. On Thursday, it was rumored by several reporters that James would make an announcement at 3:30 p.m. EST. Police were stationed outside his home in the Bath Township neighborhood in Ohio.
Rumored 3:30 p.m. LeBron James deadline passes and the Internet panics
The supposed decision from the No. 1 free agent didn’t come as rumored this afternoon, and the Internet reacted accordingly.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Folks in Bath feel strongly that LBJ will sign w/ CLE. LBJ's camp contacted cops hour ago to alert them of tonight's annoucement. #kingjames
— PHIL TREXLER-ABJ (@PhilTrexler) July 10, 2014 To be more precise, no less than five police officers at LeBron James home. They were told to expect a 3:30 ET announcement.
— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) July 10, 2014
The significance of the 3:30 p.m. deadline was largely linked to one of Akron’s telephone area codes being 330. The Internet took this and ran with it, wildly speculating not only that James would make a decision, but on where.
Web developer friend's take on the http://t.co/dXsyYmTPNh stuff: pic.twitter.com/3d8UPEXrTj
— Matt Borcas (@mattborcas) July 10, 2014 As the news exploded, people rushed to James’ website, LeBronJames.com, for clues. A tweet from Grantland contributor Matt Borcas surfaced, explaining that a friend of his had found color codes in James’ site that matched the Cavaliers’ uniforms.
Then, we waited.
And waited.
What did we get? Nothing.
LeBron James won't be making an announcement in three minutes, or the next hour, for that matter, I'm told.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 10, 2014
The 3:30 p.m. deadline came and went, with typically reliable USA Today’s Sam Amick dropping the news that James’ decision would not be within the hour.
— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) July 10, 2014 Twitter again exploded, and our venerable editor Mike Prada made note of the crack reporting done around the country about the non-decision. With police posted outside James’ home, a 3:30 p.m. announcement did eventually come from the Cavaliers organization.
#Cavs and @KyrieIrving officially sign contract extension. [MORE]: http://t.co/tsBqLkpl0b #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/a9wP3OBBFa
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) July 10, 2014 Cleveland signed a player not named LeBron to a max contract? Ho hum.
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