In 19 seasons, there isn’t much LeBron James hasn’t seen, done or conquered. The rings, trophies, accolades and records on the NBA and international stage thrust him into the “greatest player ever” conversation years ago. James has faced unparalleled expectations in major American professional team sports, and despite ludicrous levels of scrutiny for his on and off the court actions, he’s managed to exceed them all.
But LeBron still hasn’t won enough for some. This year, his Lakers are at best an average basketball team (with potential) through 32 games. And like clockwork, the rumors of wholesale changes have descended upon the team. With speculation of jettisoning newly minted Laker Russell Westbrook and acquiring the embattled Ben Simmons in full flight, the juiciest gossip of all has LeBron leaving Los Angeles for…
Cleveland!
Yes. Cleveland, Ohio, of all places.
The case for another reunion is obvious. The Cavaliers currently sit right in the mix of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, not just the play-in tournament. The Cavs are actually the best story of this young NBA season. They have size, a bevy of shooters, bigs who aren’t afraid to do the dirty work and the type of meek individuals that would allow for LeBron’s force of personality to immediately command the team. The problem though is the same one that has plagued James his entire career and continues to chase him down like one of his epic blocked shots:
LeBron’s greatness is his own worst enemy, and what’s more, he doesn’t know how to solve it.
This conundrum manifests itself in two ways. First, the rumored discontent that would spur on James’ hypothetical desire to again seek greener pastures is, according to one unnamed Eastern Conference executive, his lack of willingness “to sacrifice his body for this [Laker] team.” This alleged quote made the rounds on social media last week and includes some curious details–that LeBron is “enamored” with the coaching, youth and roster in Cleveland. That all sounds great, except LeBron has blazed a very specific trail in his basketball journey that hasn’t allowed for any of this.
Gifted enough to make any team he’s on an instant contender since 2007, James has gone out of his way to position himself as much more than just a basketball player. He’s championed player empowerment because he can; the combination of his endless talent and the threat of him fleeing in free agency forces his front offices to do all they can to (often hastily) put championship pieces around him and thus retain his services.
The Cavaliers did it from 2005-2010 (spending big on Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison and Shaquille O’Neal).
The Heat did it from 2010-2014 (blowing their budget on Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Michael Beasley and Greg Oden).
The Cavs did it again from 2014-2018 (maneuvering their young pieces to obtain Kevin Love, JR Smith, Isaiah Thomas, Rodney Hood, Richard Jefferson, Deron Williams, Andrew Bogut, Channing Frye, Kyle Korver, an older Dwyane Wade, an older Mo Williams, José Calderón, George Hill, Jeff Green, Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose).
And the Lakers have been doing it ever since (sacrificing their entire future [whatever you thought of it] for Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, DeAndre Jordan, Trevor Ariza, Danny Green, Dwight Howard [twice], Avery Bradley, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo [twice], Marc Gasol, Jared Dudley, Wes Matthews, Wayne Ellington, Isaiah Thomas [again] and…did you know Luol Deng is on their books this year??)
This collection of names is fascinating. Some were brought in to be key pieces on a title team, others were long shots at the end of the bench, and still others were somewhere in between. Some were inexpensive, but many walked in with bloated salaries that were paying them for past performance.
And that’s the point. These names carry cachet but most of them were past their prime, if not over the hill, when joining the James gang.
Remember when LeBron went to LA and Magic Johnson said he didn’t want the Lakers to be “Cleveland all over again,”? The truth is every LeBron James team is “Cleveland”, because LeBron pressures teams — either vocally or passively — into acting just as the Cavs did.
Sidebar: Let’s not even talk about LeBron’s head coach graveyard.
And it works! If it didn’t, James wouldn’t have made the NBA Finals 10 times. Many of the decisions listed above were brilliant moves, but they came at the expense of youth and an organically constructed roster, the very things James is reportedly yearning for now, which makes this rumor pretty laughable.
Secondly, Klutch Sports continues to outfit King James’ rosters with teammates he feels can win now at the risk of (or possibly the desire to) creating a dynamic that further feeds into the LeBron ecosystem. These players know they were brought in to support possibly the most dazzling creator in NBA history. The massive drawback occurs when LeBron exits the game–his teammates usually morph into the worst versions of themselves. We’ve seen this his entire career; the on/off numbers of LeBron-led teams are staggering. It’s caused some doubters to contend that he actually doesn’t make his teammates better, a linchpin argument of the pro-LeBron crowd.
Since 2005 LeBron has ranked in the 90th percentile or higher in on/off differential points per 100 possessions 14 times. He’s finished in at least the 98th percentile or better 11 times. For perspective, Kevin Durant has only finished in the 98th percentile or better in this stat three times since he entered the league in 2007 (still impressive). Loosely translated, the data backs up what we can all see: LeBron-led teams suck when he’s not on the court. This, in spite of him playing with prime Hall of Fame talent such as Wade, Bosh, Irving and now Anthony Davis and, at the time, fringe Hall of Fame talent like Love, Westbrook and Sasha Pavlocić.
Sidebar: Kidding. Just making sure you’re still locked in.
Davis was recently ranked one of the top 75 players in NBA History; even he cannot seem to facilitate a functioning offense without James’ presence. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst once said, “LeBron is the sun.” Any franchise would be insane not to grant him carte blanche when running the offense. And for all the brilliant decisions LeBron makes with the ball in his hands, that unparalleled autonomy paralyzes his teammates to the extent that they’re unable to function when he’s not around.
And once Bron realizes this, he starts planning his escape route. So it isn’t shocking to hear these rumors about the Cavs, but what would a return home in 2023 actually do for either party? Why are we to believe it would end any differently than it has the last 15 years? Is LBJ ready to defer to promising young point guard Darius Garland as the dominant ball handler? Will he really mesh with superstar-to-be Evan Mobley, or is he more likely to stunt his growth (even if by accident) by crushing Mobley with his massive orbit? It’s far more likely that on the first missed defensive assignment, LeBron will be wishing he was playing with the homies from the 2011 All-Star Game.
On the flip side, the Cavs with Garland, Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Collin Sexton, Issac Okoro, Lauri Markkanen, Ricky Rubio, Cedi Osman and (amazingly) Kevin Love have captured lighting in a bottle–incandescent, yet ever so fragile. It’s new, it’s exciting and pure. It’s also theirs. If the Cavaliers continue this upward trend, not only are they earning Ws with each quality performance, they’re earning respect around the league–respect the organization never fully realized after the 2013-14 season when the Cavs were last on the rise, because that rise was good enough for LeBron to take notice and then he outshined it all.
Sidebar: What the Cavs accomplished that offseason never got enough credit though.
It’s hard to argue with the LeBron James formula. But the whole “walk into a new situation, use fear to apply pressure to management, mortgage the future, bleed the tradable assets dry, realize the pieces don’t work without you doing the heavy-lifting, look for the next situation and bail” thing is way harder to pull off when the central figure is approaching 40 and finally starting to break down. And for once, it doesn’t serve the Cavaliers — a young potential powerhouse — to move heaven and earth to appease LeBron James, even if he remains arguably the world’s best basketball player.
So, let’s put a pin in this “LeBron to Cleveland Part 3” talk for now. Besides, there’s always the 1-day contract on the last day of his career.