LeBron James Toronto

Toronto subway ad beckons LeBron James to join the Raptors

Could LeBron James ever be King in the North? Or will the moderate temperatures and glam surroundings of King's Landing Los Angeles prove irresistible to the handsome young basketball royal?

It's hard to say what will happen when the greatest active NBA player on Earth becomes a free agent.

James could be on the market in July after his contract expires with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and fans around the continent already have their fingers firmly crossed that maybe – just maybe – the King will join their team.

An advertisement spotted on a TTC subway platform this morning suggests that someone wants BronBron on the Toronto Raptors so badly, he or she actually dug into their own pockets to publicly ask for his hand in basketball.

Nobody knows who designed or paid for the ad, as of yet, but its message is clear: #23TO416, The King in The 6ix.

It's unlikely that James will see the ad for himself while riding the TTC (though, to be fair, he's not averse to public transit,) but maybe he'll read about it in the news. Maybe he'll read these very words I'm writing right now OHMYGOD HELLO LEBRON I LOVE YOU. Probably not.

Regardless, Toronto joins a growing number of cities in which fans have taken it upon themselves to try and recruit James using billboards or ads like the ones above.

Recruitment signs originating in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Cleveland have all popped up in recent weeks (though the latter was more of an eff you from Cleveland to Philly.) 

Toronto isn't an obvious choice, but as the sports news site Bardown notes "Toronto has something those other destinations don't have, Drake."

"The global star is friends with LeBron and he could also help in the recruiting process if he wanted to it," reads a post published today. "That said, we still can't picture a world in which James decided to come play for the Raptors in the summer."

Some fans have been critical of the idea on Twitter, arguing that the baller's celebrity would be a distraction or that he would cost way too much to accommodate.

Others are either stoked to think about James coming to the Raptors or laughing at the idea that it could ever happen.

Having King James in Toronto would be awesome, obviously, but it's looking like The North will be more than fine, either way.

Lead photo by

Jay Satur


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