For much of the season, there has been chatter around the NBA that LeBron James might be enticed to make a comeback to Cleveland. I’ve spent hours talking to the other writers for Legion Report on where we think he might land. The people of Northeast Ohio have been pleading for his return, even running onto the court during one of his games.
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Brian Windhorst did an interview with Cavs the Blog and discussed the possibility of LeBron returning. The thinking in “courting” him back to his kingdom would be to surround him with Kyrie Irving and a cast full of young, talented players. That’s not so much the case. Windhorst has covered James since his high school days at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and has been close to him. He goes on to say:
“…if the Cavs ever dream of having LeBron, it’s not going to be with Kyrie there. LeBron and Kyrie have drifted apart in the last few years, even to the point that if the Cavs wanted to get LeBron they would maybe trade Kyrie for someone who would fit better with LeBron. And I’m not making that up. That line of thinking was not originated by me. That’s just the truth.”
Can you really blame LeBron? In Kyrie’s career he’s fired one general manager, he’s about to fire his second head coach in Mike Brown after this season, and whether he wants to hide it or not, he doesn’t want to be in Cleveland. Windhorst makes that pretty evident in this statement:
“The truth is [Kyrie’s] camp has been putting out there for years – years – that he doesn’t want to be in Cleveland. That they don’t want him in Cleveland. He doesn’t like Mike Brown. He didn’t like Chris Grant. He doesn’t like Dion Waiters.”
The Cavs have a lot of decisions to make in the future. If Kyrie rejects a max deal, which the Cavs will definitely offer, then he should be put on the trade block. In a recent article describing the Minnesota Timberwolves contemplating trading Kevin Love, I correlated the Jazz and Nets trade involving Deron Williams. The trade ended up helping the Jazz in the long run. The Cavs have to do what’s best for the future, and that more than likely will not include Kyrie or LeBron.