Sometime in the season, when LeBron James visits his best pal in Miami during the winter, and later, because of some cryptic tweets, there were rumors that the King would leave Cleveland again.
This was presumed because he failed to win the title that he vowed to deliver to his title-starved home state. If he lost again, that would be the clincher. It would be borne of frustration or a realization that this roster is not good enough, but the presumption that he could consider packing his bags again threw the Cavs faithful in a panic.
However, there is another angle. Many analysts believe that LeBron could not ever leave the Cavs again. That would break their hearts and cause a public relations hit that his "brand" might never recover from. That sounds logical-and probably accurate. But what if LeBron James wins the title on Sunday?
The notorious Stephen A. Smith has already made that declaration on ESPN's Mike and Mike. (h/t Complex)
"What I'm hearing is this, and I'll preface it by saying that LeBron's camp has emphatically said that there is no truth to this whatsoever," Smith said, apparently issuing a disclaimer. "Fair enough. I have been hearing for months-and I heard it again when I went to Miami for Game 6 against the Raptors-that if LeBron were to win the championship in Cleveland, he will have fulfilled his promise to the people in Cleveland, and he will consider going back to South Beach."
Smith also said: "He's bought a house in L.A., too, so you got folks out there thinking there's a possibility that the Lakers could be in his future. I don't know about all of that, but I do know what I've been hearing."
To clarify, Smith said "people close to him(James) categorically and emphatically denied it, but my point was that was what I was hearing from folks in Miami."
Smith never specified who the "folks in Miami" were, but while Smith has said numerous outlandish claims, he was correct about The Decision (LeBron going to Miami in 2010).
A relatively more credible source as in basketball circles has discussed a similar concept. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports.
He mentioned that "franchises are on watch again, believing nothing's forever in Northeast Ohio. Sooner or later, there's a belief that James comes into play again, a line of thinking that his inner circle has done nothing to dissuade."
Woj also said the one-year contracts were meant to "mess with (team) owner Dan Gilbert" and not just about maximizing his take when the salary cap rises. Woj went so far to say that James is fond of coach Ty Lue and even GM David Griffin but "he'll never embrace Gilbert - only perform despite him."
The championship is described as James' "Golden Ticket" because he will be a villain if left Cleveland without it.
If he leaves as a champion (and Cleveland's savior from the alleged "curse"), he will be remembered simply "an adventurist."
The fans can't complain anymore. The Cavs were awful without James, even if they had two other first overall picks before he returned (Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett) and they never even made the playoffs. For James to turn around a franchise that was bad enough to get a third 1st overall pick in four years to march all the way to the Finals, that's a feat no other individual player could achieve.
James clearly has other plans and they were never exclusive to Cleveland. He talked about playing with his friends in a "super team" of sorts but never mentioned where or even when. Perhaps because it was subject to a condition of winning the title, which could happen on Sunday.