76ers believe LeBron seriously considered signing in Philadelphia

Prior to LeBron James' decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers, a few teams seemingly remained in contention for his services.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the obvious choice, as the superstar played 11 of his 15 years close to home and the comfort level could have been maintained by sticking around for at least a couple more years.

However, the Philadelphia 76ers were reportedly granted a meeting with James' agent, Rich Paul, on July 1. And despite electing to go in a different direction, 76ers managing partner Josh Harris believes that the conversation with one of James' closest off-court allies showed that a move to the City of Brotherly Love was a real possibility.

"I think they considered us very strongly," Harris said, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "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."

James ultimately chose to sign a four-year, $154-million deal to head to the Western Conference, further weakening Philly's path to the NBA Finals.

Although they didn't land a superstar-caliber player to play next to young stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, they remained productive in the offseason, re-signing sharpshooter JJ Redick and veteran center Amir Johnson, while adding forwards Nemanja Bjelica and Wilson Chandler.