Forget the fact that LeBron James said he always plays well at Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of basketball arenas. And ignore the remark about Brooklyn being his favorite borough. You can even throw out LeBron’s friendship with Jay-Z, part-owner of the Nets.

Yes, LeBron would love to play in a big market come 2010 – he is expected to opt out of his $17 million player option for the 2010-11 season – but his decision is going to come down to two things. The first will be which team can give him a max contract. The second, and most important item, is which team will give him the best chance of winning multiple NBA championships. Yeah, Bron-Bron loves the spotlight, but he’s also driven to win, as was evident in the Cavs’ last two playoff runs.

Both the Knicks and soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets are working to create the cap space to provide LeBron with a max deal by the time he enters free agency. But only one New York team will have a realistic shot at doing so. Just as only one will have a legitimate chance at winning a title – and it ain’t the Knickerbockers.

The Knicks are currently buried by bad contracts, both short-term (Stephon Marbury) and long. Heading into the fateful 2010-11 season, Zach Randolph will be on the books for more than $17 million, Eddy Curry for more than $11 million (player option), Jamal Crawford for more than $10 million and Jared Jeffries for nearly $7 million (player option). What sucker is going to trade for those contracts?

And unless Danilo Gallinari turns out to be the next Manu Ginobili (not likely), is there anyone on the current roster that Knick fan would honestly want to keep other than David Lee? And he’s just a role player.

New coach Mike D’Antoni got awfully used to that whole winning thing with the Suns, and I think he’s in for some tough times the next couple years. Things could get pretty dysfunctional (if they could get any screwier) by the time LeBron is on the market.

As for the Nets, there’s a chance their relocation to Brooklyn could coincide with the arrival of Mr. James.

Thanks to the Richard Jefferson trade, the Nets, as they are currently constituted, will have only one player (Vince Carter) with a sizeable contract in 2010. And my guess is that Vin-sanity, who’s due to make $17.3 million in 2010-11, will be unloaded before that, if only for expiring contracts.

The Nets already have a young point guard in Devin Harris (well done, Mark Cuban) that’s significantly better than anyone LeBron has played with in Cleveland, though he’ll be a free agent after next season and will likely fetch a big contract. And they have the next two seasons to assess and develop their foursome of young big men (Brook Lopez, Yi Jianlian, Josh Boone and Sean Williams). That will also give them time to look at draftees Ryan Anderson – a 6-10 small forward out of Cal – and Chris Douglas-Roberts, an unorthodox, but effective slashing guard.

Add the injury-prone, but talented Nenad Krstic (only 24), should they choose to re-sign him after next season, and the Nets have the makings of a promising and relatively inexpensive core to put around LeBron. They also have the assets to potentially trade for an all-star to bring in alongside him.

LeBron recently named his five favorite cities (New York, hometown Akron, Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.) and the Nets and Cavs appear to be the only teams in those locales who would have the cap space to sign him. LeBron is currently the only Cavalier under contract for the 2010-11 season.

The question is whether he stays with his hometown team or is lured by the bright lights of the big city. The bet here is the latter; it just won’t be the team that resides on 7^th Avenue.