LeBron to reveal choice Thursday

Staff/wire reports

AKRON

LeBron James is planning to announce the team with which he will sign during a one-hour special on ESPN on Thursday night.

ESPN would only confirm that discussions for the special are ongoing.

But ESPN’s Chris Broussard wrote on ESPN.com Tuesday night that representatives for James contacted the network.

Broussard reported that James’ representatives requested that they be allowed to sell sponsorships for the special, with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and that ESPN agreed to the proposal.

The NBA’s most prized free agent opened a Twitter account and posted his first message on the social networking site earlier on Tuesday.

“Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building,” said the tweet on the kingjames feed, which by 6 p.m. had more than 128,000 followers.

James’ publicist, Keith Estabrook, confirmed James’ entrance to Twitter, a place where fellow free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh often post details about their public lives off the floor.

In the past, James poked fun at athletes for giving details of their daily routines on Twitter and Facebook, but at the prodding of New Orleans guard Chris Paul, his U.S. Olympic teammate and closest friend in the league, the two-time MVP decided it was time to join the fun.

James arrived at his Nike-sponsored skills academy at the University of Akron at 3:15 p.m., on Tuesday, more than four hours after he was expected to arrive for the second day of the three-day camp hosting many of the nation’s top high school and college players.

Pulling up in a Dodge pickup truck with a booming stereo system, James did not speak to reporters before walking into Rhodes Arena with former Cavs teammate Damon Jones. James wasn’t dressed for a workout, and was not visible when organizers cleared the media from the school’s arena at roughly 4 p.m.

James’ plans still are a closely guarded secret. He visited with six teams — the Nets, Knicks, Heat, Clippers, Cavaliers and Bulls — last week at his business offices in downtown Cleveland and may have already made up his mind. But until he gives word, other teams are positioning themselves to make a run at the 6-foot-8, 260-pound All-Star.

There have been various reports that Toronto was working on a sign-and-trade deal with Cleveland for Bosh, and that James is trying to convince him to join the Cavaliers.

However, a person familiar with the talks said the Cavs have spoken to the Raptors and several other teams but that no players have been discussed and nothing is close to being finalized.

Cleveland can offer James a maximum-length deal worth $30 million more than any other team. But if they re-sign him, the Cavs would have no more money to sign a player of Bosh’s stature unless they open room under the salary cap. Teams can not sign players before Thursday, one day after the new salary-cap figure is announced.

Miami and Chicago could be interested in making a similar deal with the Raptors.

With all this swirling around him, James seemed as cool as ever when he arrived for his camp as outside temperatures hit 94 degrees.

Dressed in a white Nike T-shirt and orange shorts, he entered the building just as the college players were finishing their second session of the day. He shook a few hands and plopped down on a sideline table before moving to a courtside chair.

Later, James joined Cavs teammates Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Jawad Williams and Christian Eyenga in some scrimmages against high school players. The prep stars won the first game against the pros.

There had been reports he would tell the world on lebronjames.com, which has been inactive for some time but is promising new subscribers that “You’ll be the first to know.”