In less than two days, LeBron James will tell all, or more specifically, where he will be playing basketball for the next few seasons.

No humble media conference for the man, known to all and sundry (and confirmed by the name of his new Twitter account) as The King.

Instead, he will announce his future in a one-hour TV extravaganza, to be shown live on ESPN on Thursday night (Friday morning Australian time), with advertising revenue from the show to be directed towards charities that James supports.

At this stage, it is unclear whether ESPN Australia will break from its regular programming to show the announcement, but it is to be hoped that it does.

James is choosing between remaining in his native Cleveland, where he has played for seven years, or one of Chicago, Miami, New York, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Bulls remain the favourites, if he does move, although the Twitter-verse was rife with speculation on Wednesday that Nike was buying billboard space in New York ahead of the announcement.

The announcement itself will be fascinating. It is a momentous decision to be sure, one that will re-shape the NBA landscape irrevocably, but how do you stretch it into an hour?

Will the various owners of the teams in contention be summoned for the announcement? Will James then eliminate them one-by-one? ("I won't be playing for the Los Angeles Clippers because you, Donald Sterling, are a jerk!")

The whole NBA free agency thing has become tiring and the best part about James making his announcement is that he is by far the biggest piece in the jigsaw, with the rest of the pieces will fall into place shortly thereafter.

It also places ESPN in a difficult situation and some would say, hopelessly compromised. On the one hand, there is an entire ESPN newsroom, which features some of the best and most highly-paid reports in the country, that would love to be the first to break the story about where James is heading.

Then there are the programming executives, whose fervent wish is that nothing leaks out before the announcement, in order to ensure monstrous ratings.

If an ESPN reporter gets the scoop, will he or she be pressured to hold the story? It goes against the instinct of every true journalist.