The Cleveland Cavaliers face 2018 with their heads down, with Kyrie Irving possibly one step out the door and reports that Lebron James may be leaving Ohio for the second time in his career.
Despite bringing a championship to Cleveland, the Cavs have plateaued, unable to beat the stacked Golden State Warriors. Though, while people will argue that the Warriors have broken the NBA, James could have balanced the Cavaliers out; but he chose money.
This is not to criticise LeBron. When it’s all said and done, he will most likely be the leading scorer and could be the sub-GOAT to Michael Jordan. He may even pass Jordan.
This also isn’t to criticise his playing. At the age of 32, James had arguably one of his best seasons. He averaged the most rebounds of his career (8.6), the most assists (8.7) and averaged 26 points. He was third in player efficiency rating (PER), and sixth in win shares.
Yet, the issue is not his stats: it’s his money.
(EDrost88 / Flickr)
LeBron James signed, at the time, the largest contract in NBA history. On its own, this is fine, as the greatest player of this generation the Cavaliers would pay anything to keep him. However, from LeBron’s perspective, the move was dumb and selfish.
James signed an extension a month after Kevin Durant signed with the Warriors. Durant, LeBron James’ biggest rival, joined the Golden State Warriors, his team’s biggest rival. In that moment, LeBron should have realised what was about to happen. Yet, James went into a dream. He foolishly thought nothing would change. It did.
Fast-forward to the 2017 off-season and we see Durant take a pay cut in order to allow Stephen Curry to get a max contract. Draymond Green, Cury and Durant have all said that they’re willing to take cuts if it means keeping the team together.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are deep into the luxury tax. The Cleveland big three are valued at $74,796,685. In total, their starting lineup is worth $104,956,685. If LeBron had taken $13 million less, they could have signed additional assets in the 2016 free agency – LeBron’s lifetime buddy Dwayne Wade is one of them.
But James wanted $33 million.
Money alone isn’t the only issue. All throughout 2016-17, we heard the excuses: “We need this”. “We have got to get a point guard”. This instead of rallying his troops, making them better or even carrying the team.
Irving is a top ten point guard when playing for the Cavaliers. He is the clutch player on your team… he is not the issue. Kevin Love is not the issue. They are one team, yet James appears to be dividing them.
The Cavaliers are currently trying to hold a fragile roster together. They may not like to admit it, but James’ attitude has been the problem.
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