Reports that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh would convene for a free-agent summit before July 1 is good for the Knicks.
The Knicks’ only shot at James is if he can convince Bosh — or Wade or Johnson — to come along for the ride. The Knicks are the only club that has cap room to sign two maximum contracts — with $34M in space.
Even if James stays in Cleveland or heads to Chicago, the Knicks would take any pair — Wade and Bosh, Johnson and Bosh, even Johnson and Wade.
Wade said a summit has been discussed only briefly in the past and no date has been set.
“[Free agency] has been three years coming,” the Heat superstar told the Chicago Tribune. “We’ve discussed it prematurely, at different times. [But] you don’t know what guys are thinking and where they’re going.
“I think we’ll all sit down, and before one of us makes a decision, all of us will have spoken to each other and [listened to the] thinking.
“A lot of decisions [will be based on] what other players are willing to do and what other guys want to do. So it’s not just a ‘me’ situation here. We all have to look and see what each other is thinking.”
Meanwhile, the coaching carousel should still play a role in James’ thinking.
According to a league source, Celtics hot assistant coach Tom Thibodeau could be a factor because he has discussed joining forces with power broker and James confidant, William Wesley, who on June 1 becomes a coach’s agent for CAA. CAA represents James through Leon Rose.
If Wesley and Thibodeau are together, he could steer the former Knicks assistant defensive guru to Chicago rather than New Orleans, which reportedly regards him as the top candidate.
Thibodeau already has ended James’ season when the Celtics shut him down the final two games of the second-round series, gaining James’ respect. However, Thibodeau has no head-coaching experience.
Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, according to a source, likes Thibodeau, who interviewed there two years ago. Wesley was rumored to have try to package John Calipari and James to the Bulls.
Phil Jackson, meanwhile, has said he’d have no interest in the Bulls’ job amid a report Chicago went through back channels to gauge his interest. Jackson, even yesterday, did not rule out Cleveland or the Nets but called the Cavs’ opening “an extremely odd situation.”
marc.berman@nypost.
com