​A few weeks ago, the Golden State Warriors seemed to have a very good chance of landing LeBron James in free agency, and they seemed like the NBA team that was most motivated to sign the future Hall of Famer. But it seems as if all that has cooled off a bit in the month of July.While the Warriors are certainly still in the running for James, they aren’t mentioned as one of the frontrunners anymore. The three teams that are mentioned as being at the front of the queue, so to speak, are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. Some around the league even have their suspicions that a James return to Cleveland is all but a done deal.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMarc J. Spears of Andscape went on ESPN’s “NBA Today” and said that the Warriors themselves feel like they have become something of an underdog in the James sweepstakes, per ESPN.”I’m kind of hearing today that the Warriors internally kind of feel like they’re a dark horse at this point, that LeBron James is probably going out East,” Spears said.The advantage that the Warriors have over just about any other team is that James is good friends with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Curry recently spoke about the possibility of James coming to the San Francisco Bay Area, and Green reportedly spent time recently playing golf with the superstar and pretty much admitted he gave a recruiting pitch.But the Warriors cannot give James his best chance of winning his fifth NBA championship. That would be the 76ers — or the Heat, who now have Giannis Antetokounmpo and the framework of a legitimate contender. In addition, the Cavaliers are coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference finals.Golden State, on the other hand, hasn’t been to the conference finals in four years. That was also the last time it won the world title, and it has been in a state of sustained decay ever since.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Insider: Warriors feel they’re underdogs in LeBron James sweepstakes