The Summer of LeBron began in earnest when with 4:03 left in Game Four of the NBA Finals on Friday night — a 108-85 Cleveland loss to Golden State — he checked out for the last time.
He congratulated the Warriors on the court as he departed, knowing he was about to lose to them in the Finals for the third time in four years. But when the game ended, he didn’t stick around to watch the Dubs celebrate again; he was the first player to leave the court.
There are places to go, people to see, decisions — or, rather, Decisions — to be made.
Again.
He clumsily left Cleveland in 2010 — we all remember the awkward TV announcement — but returned four years later. Two years after that, he delivered the first championship to that beleaguered city since 1964.
There is a possibility he might return, but as The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd writes, James is miffed at some decisions management has made over the last year (not the least of which was the Kyrie Irving trade), and tired of carrying a subpar cast on his back. As James told reporters after Game Four, he is still “in championship mode.”
Which means, presumably, that he would rather not play with guys who do things like forget the score, as J.R. Smith did in the closing seconds Game One. That so miffed James that he punched a whiteboard in the Cavaliers’ locker room, injuring his right hand.
So here we go again. Marc Stein of the New York Times raised the possibility of James joining his friend Chris Paul in Houston, and if not there, with the Lakers. For the Rockets to make it work, however, they’d have to do some serious salary-cap machinations. And the on-court fit between three ball-dominant guys like James, Paul and James Harden does not seem ideal. (Then again, we said that when Paul joined Harden this season, and the Rockets came within a Paul hamstring injury of beating the Warriors in the Western Finals.)
The Lakers are another intriguing possibility, but even with James and Paul (or James and Paul George, another possibility that has been mentioned), do they have enough to unseat the Warriors?
Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer even constructed a scenario where James could wind up with the Celtics, while admitting that that could involve an awkward LeBron-Kyrie reunion. Again, hard to see that happening, except for the fact that Danny Ainge is such an inventive roster-builder.
Which brings us to the Sixers. Even before the final buzzer sounded Friday night, Joel Embiid was subtly recruiting LeBron on Twitter, which is one of the many things to enjoy about Embiid.
James and Ben Simmons are represented by the same agency, Rich Paul and Klutch Sports. They have worked out together in the summer, and expressed admiration for one another.
Could they play together, though? Both seem to operate best with the ball in their hands, and with shooters around them to spread the floor. One — likely Simmons — would seemingly be reduced to spectator more often than he might like.
Then again, there was the view of Sixers coach Brett Brown, who with the departure of Bryan Colangelo (and his recent signing of a three-year contract extension) has solidified his power base within the organization.
Last month Brown was asked during a news conference about the possibility of signing a guy like LeBron, and he responded slyly.
“If this (ball-dominant) player you’re describing was great, we’d figure it out,” he told reporters with the smallest of smiles.
Clearly, any coach would love to have the opportunity to figure out how best to use LeBron James. Just as clearly, it would put that team, like James, in championship mode.
Miles to go, of course. But it is, at least, interesting to contemplate the Summer of LeBron becoming the Summer of the Sixers.