How Do They Rank:  With a few games of preseason basketball out of the way, it’s time to look at how the league stacks up.

Eric Pincus will again hold down the Weekly HOOPSWORLD Power Rankings, but from time to time I’ll chime in with my own views of the league.

Look for both of our weekly Rankings in USA Today and at USA Today.com as the season gets under way.

LeBron And The Lakers?:  In September our own Eric Pincus pointed out that the LA Lakers would be in a prime position to poach HEAT star LeBron James if he opts-out of his current deal. Yesterday ESPN’s Brian Windhorst followed up on the idea with some quotes from unmanned executives mirroring the idea and the appeal.

Let’s be realistic for a minute. LeBron is going to opt out of his contract in July of 2014. So is Chris Bosh and so is Dwayne Wade. They’ll do this because that’s what you do when you are at the top of your game and can be paid more money. But does anyone really buy into the idea that LeBron, who just got his first championship and finally is getting all the things he has wanted, is already packing his bags for LA?

He’s not and he said as much yesterday when presented with the story at practice.

“I’m here,” James said. “I’m preparing for the season. I’m preparing to defend our title. I understand it comes up because of who I am.”

The HEAT locker room had fun with the idea and the stories of where LeBron may play next.

“They need to leave my teammate alone and go mess with somebody else,” Wade said to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “He’s going to be here. We’re straight.”

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this again,” HEAT guard Mike Miller said of the commentary.

The truth of the matter is that 2014 is a long way away in basketball terms and the HEAT believes they are just getting started.

Sure the Lakers would have the cap room and the market to appeal to LeBron James, but considering the Lakers haven’t re-signed Dwight Howard yet and that Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant will be well past their ability to seriously compete in July of 2014 – why exactly would LeBron leave his championship contender again?

Lots of teams will have cap space in 2014… Miami being one of them if all three of Miami’s core guys opt out.

Its great theater to say the “mercenary LeBron” will dump Miami for the Lakers, just like he did Cleveland for Miami, but how realistic is it that he leaves a title winner for an empty roster with maybe Dwight Howard as the lone star on the team?

Remember back to 2010 when LeBron was headed to free agency… it was New York. He’d be a Knick.

It’s a little silly at this point, when Miami is the top team in the East and an almost lock for the NBA Finals for a third straight year, to seriously offer that LeBron will be a Laker in two years. Sorry just way too early in the game to give that one serious consideration despite the impeccable credentials of the initial sources.

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NBA Chats: There are two NBA chats today starting with Yannis Koutroupis who will drop his weekly chat at 11am EST. Yannis serves as a Senior NBA Writer and the College Basketball Editor for HOOPSWORLD so get your questions in early as Yannis’ chats fill up fast. Larry Coon will also hold down his weekly NBA Salary Cap Chat at 3pm EST. You can always find the next upcoming chat here: Upcoming NBA Chats or if you are looking for a chat that already completed try here: Previous NBA Chats