Last week, it was confirmed that LeBron James his player option to opt out of the final year of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers to become an unrestricted free agent.

A couple of days later, his management agency announced that the King intends to sign a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

While now he has a new goal of bringing the Lakers their first NBA championship since 2010, it also means the Eastern Conference has opened up with his departure from the Cavs, giving the teams there a better chance of winning a title too.

Hal-le-lu-jah

Many Eastern Conference teams were happy to see LeBron leave the conference, but none more so than New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale, who had a brilliant one-word reaction to the news.

Fizdale told Newsday's Al Iannazzone: "Hal-le-lu-jah.

"Look, I'll take it. That's all I can say."

2019 Free Agency

Fizdale also reflected on how New York will approach the 2019 free agency when they're expected to sign a huge name with players like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler are expected to be available.

The Knicks head coach expects the team to be heavily involved in the free agency scrap in 2019, as he said the following on Tuesday at the Knicks’ summer league practice in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Ian Begley:

“[Knicks general manager] Scott [Perry] and [team president] Steve [Mills] have done an incredible job of lining it up so that we’re in a position next summer to make moves.

“I just feel like with the relationships we’ve built and our approach to the game and our view of players and the way we view guys and the way we treat guys and the culture we want to build, I really think we’re going to find somebody who fits the bill.

“As we get our culture in place, [injured All-Star forward Kristaps Porzingis] gets healthy, we start moving into next summer, I really feel like we’ll have the bricks in place to make some big moves.”

As for how many players the Knicks will need next offseason, Fizdale says one player won't cut it.

He said: "One just won't do it anymore. We saw it with the greatest player in the world. It's hard. And K-Love is no slouch. He's a multi-All-Star player. So it's just really tough.

"And now with what's going on - which we can't talk about - good grief. You got to have a couple of guys to get to that mountaintop, yeah."

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