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.
markbay
Guest
Jordan was underpaid until he signed the 29m, 31m and 33m in those last 3 championship respectively. The Bulls recognized his contribution for paying such amount of money.
Swampy
Guest
Wow, fishy, fishy where are you? This is click-bait (I hope). In the (highly) hypothetical situation where you were the most skilled and valuable member of your office, on a scale of 1-10 how willing would you be to take a 35% pay cut so your boss could hire less talented workers at the same rate?
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I couldn't even be bothered, so I'm glad you did!
mushi
Guest
Also in maimi on the team mate thing - he was upset at his team mates being salary dumped and the team being worse to save luxury tax
mushi
Guest
Jordan took 33m back in the 90s…. when the cap was less than 30m. Mentioning how great a team mate Jordan was when talking about pay cuts is laughable. And something else you might notice about Miami Putting up with his crap = 72% W-L , 14 playoff series wins, 4 finals trips, and 2 title Not putting up with his crap = 51% W-L and 1 playoff series win So they sure showed LeBron who is who in the zoo didn’t they! Making him go to the Finals with another team!
Ben Sewell
Roar Pro
So it's ok for Steph Curry to be paid $200 million but it's not ok for Lebron to demand top dollar for his services? C'mon mate get real! As you said, he's likely to finish as the 2nd greatest NBA player of all time. He should be getting paid as such. And as far as him being the "issue", that's just rubbish, before he came back to Cleveland, this team was a dumpster fire, even with Kyrie at the helm. Lebron is the only reason this team is relevant and the fact they beat GSW in 2016 says so much about Lebron. He quite frankly deserves better than how Cleveland are currently treating him and he should leave next season. I for one wouldn't blame him if he did.
mark alan
Guest
That's the problem,LaBron James has a big mouth,and they are right,if he would have taken$15million less,and let the front office do there job,instead of James wanting this or that,and let Irving play the point,and should have dumped shrimpt,Jr smith,kovner,willams,and got two better players,they would have compeated better you notice that Maimi didn't put up with that crap. LaBron your still great,but sorry Michael Jordan was a true teammate and is still the best in the world. You will never win 6 championships it's always about you. If you stayed with the Heat,you could have won 10 championships,but you stuffed it up just like your doing now.
mushi
Guest
I actually had high hopes from the title that it would be a discussion about how you manage a guy who is trying to maximise his chance to win, and as such wants/gives input into the roster building process, but also doesn’t want to take the risk of getting locked into a situation should the roster build go awry.
mushi
Guest
It also displays a lack of understanding of recent history as when Lebron left Miami for Cleveland he was very clear that he wouldn’t take a pay cut ever again as there was no guarantee the team’s owners wouldn’t necessarily spend that money he gave up. There are also a slew of articles showing how underpaid top echelon max contract players are in terms of win production.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Welcome to The Roar, Skip Bayless. Lordy, where to start here. So LeBron is "dumb and selfish", but no mention of Kyrie wanting to leave because he wants his "own team", which you could very easily argue is "dumb", and is without question "selfish". LeBron "chose money", but no mention of the fact that Steph Curry will earn more money than him for the next two years. Curry said he was willing to take a pay cut - but no mention of the fact he signed a contract that will pay him $34.6m, $37.5m, $40.2m, $43m and $45.8m over the 5 years. That's not exactly taking a pay cut. You mention that the Cavs "Big Three" are valued (I think you meant 'earn') $74.8m, yet you fail to mention that the Warriors Big Three will earn more, at $77.4m next season, and that figure will only rise. "If LeBron had taken $13m less . . . ". That doesn't really need any commentary, but I will anyway: why should LeBron take $13m less? The owners of NBA teams make more money than the players, yet it's always the players being told to take less money and be unselfish. Why don't owners cop the heat for making less money? The Cavs are in the luxury tax and so they should be. LeBron James has made Dan Gilbert richer than he even was. "Kyrie is the clutch player on the team". Are you suggesting LeBron isn't clutch? I think you. Deary me, there is still people out there that think that? "They are one team, yet James appears to be dividing them . . . The Cavaliers are currently trying to hold a fragile roster together." You do realise that LeBron James is the reason 90% of the roster are there, right? They want to play with him. LeBron James is not the problem on this team. Dan Gilbert is the problem on this team. He's arrogant and stupid. He let go a very good GM, and that's been the issue.