LeBron, choose wisely

The suitors have come and gone — and taken their promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of millions (and an NBA championship?) with them.

What better way for America to enjoy the Independence Day weekend then to follow LeBron James’ quest for pro basketball’s version of the Holy Grail?

OK, that might be stretching it a bit.

It’s unlikely too many of you will be consumed by James’ free-agent decision today.

Some of you might have had your fill of it already, kind of like your aunt’s special holiday treat that, while you’re not exactly sure what all the ingredients are, you’re afraid to not take a sampling lest you offend her.

And that’s sort of what the LeBron sweepstakes have become — a bouncing orange ball of a car wreck that — against our better judgement — we just have to slow down and take a look at as we drive by.

Assuming none of the six teams who made their sales pitch to James get a second chance, the odds seem high that LeBron will announce his decision sometime early this week.

It would be in his best interest to do so.

For while James is the most coveted free agent on the market, any decision by him or his team to take a wait-and-see approach could be catastrophic.

Oh, he’s still going to get his money, but the longer he waits — while Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and others commit — the less likely he’ll be able to choose where he signs.

Here’s why: for the last week we’ve been hearing that teams like Miami, New York, New Jersey and Chicago have freed up enough cap room to sign two, or even three, max free agents.

And while on paper that may be true, the reality is, that if — say, New Jersey — signed James, Wade and Bosh, the Nets would have virtually no money left under the cap to sign any other players of consequence.

So while they would have three marquee players in the starting lineup, the rest of the roster would be filled with minimum contract-type players.

The Nets — and the Knicks, with the exception of David Lee — stripped their rosters so bare this past season to clear cap room that neither would have much wiggle room left to attract even quality starters.

That’s why I’ll be shocked if any of the marquee free agents wind up together — unless it’s Chicago, which already has Derrick Rose as point guard and Joakim Noah in the post.

The Bulls could put Wade at the shooting guard and James at small forward and put as formidable a lineup on the floor as there’s ever been seen.

But then the question becomes, are there enough points — not to mention spotlights — for those four to share?

Rob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. E-mail him at todor@vindy.com.