NEW YORK -- Making his first public appearance since he informed the Los Angeles Lakers he would be leaving to join another team via free agency, LeBron James did not reveal his decision Thursday at a live taping of his podcast at Fanatics Fest, the annual sports lifestyle festival.
It's not that Tyrese Haliburton, the guest co-host for the "Mind the Game" podcast -- and the crowd -- didn't try to pry it out of him.
"Is there a decision that still has to be made?" Haliburton asked, just minutes into the program in front of a crowd of about 5,000 people gathered in front of the stage at the Javits Center.
James didn't bite.
"We literally talked about this in the back, Rese," James said, reiterating that revealing his next team would not be on the agenda.
LeBron James said Thursday "it's going to be pretty fun" with whichever team he signs with but he's not yet ready to make that decision. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Fanatics "OK, my fault, my fault," Haliburton replied. "I didn't know if you wanted to... OK, OK, I'll leave it alone."
Later Thursday at the CNBC and Boardroom Game Plan Summit, however, James indicated the wait for his decision might not be too much longer.
"I won't hold you guys up too much longer," he said.
Since James' agent and the CEO of Klutch Sports, Rich Paul, informed the Lakers more than two weeks ago that James would be moving on, the 41-year-old star has been courted by many teams and players to join up next season.
Haliburton, who led the Indiana Pacers to the 2025 NBA Finals before tearing his Achilles in Game 7 and missing all of last season to rehabilitate, was one of them.
"I texted Bron maybe a month ago, before he even made his decision to leave L.A. and I said, 'Hey, if you want to come to Indiana, we can make something crack,'" Haliburton recalled.
"And he texted me back two laughing/crying faces and that's all I got. So, I decided from then on that I'm done pursuing him in free agency. I don't know if it's going to happen with Indiana."