LeBron shot has left the station
T.O. joins sign-craze fun but King will take talents elsewhere if he opts out
There are months to go before LeBron James has to figure out where he’ll play next season and which franchise will reap the benefits of having the generation’s most dominant player on its roster.
There will be ancillary benefits as well to businesses and hotels and restaurants in whichever city he chooses.
But there are companies that are already capitalizing on his impending decision, even though it won’t be made until July: Billboard companies and agencies that sell subway signage along TTC routes.
Who says there aren’t trickledown economic benefits provided by sports stars?
Toronto, jumping on a trend that started in Philadelphia and continued in Los Angeles, joined the public “We Want LeBron” outcry this week.
A sign along the subway line this week read “#23TO416” and “The King in the #6ix” in some crazy way to convince the 33year-old to join the Raptors next season.
Earlier, billboards in Philadelphia tried to sway the perennial MVP to join the Sixers, and earlier this month signs in Los Angeles — when the Cavaliers were there — read “Cleveland & Philly, You Can’t Compete with L.A.” and “Forget The Process, We Win Banners.”
And while it’s nice that any fan would spend real money on something James will never, ever see along a Toronto transit line, whatever money was coughed up would probably be better off donated to some charity that could use it.
While the Sixers and Lakers would be able to swing enough cap space to actually make a run at James, the Raptors would have to magically gut their team of its highest-paid and best players to satisfy the financial demands of James, who would then have to be convinced to join a team devoid of its best players. See the issue? James said he was flattered by the original Philadelphia signage and called the billboards “dope,” but that anyone would think a public display like a billboard or subway sign would be the thing to make him leave Cleveland is laughable. It’s all in good fun, but truly a waste of money.
It does, however, speak to James’s formidable talent and his allure to fans. And there has to be at least a small chance he forsakes Cleveland — again — at the end of the season to pursue another championship.
The Cavaliers are headed to their worst regular-season record in the four years James has been back — 39-28 heading into a game Thursday night in Portland — despite James averaging nearly a triple-double (28.7 points,10.5 rebounds and 9.4 assists) since Cleveland got an infusion of youth at the trade deadline.
However, the load might eventually get to James. He hasn’t had a game off this season — after taking regular “rest” nights the past few seasons — and he’s on pace to play more minutes this season than he has at any time since 2011.
That may be enough for him to seek a better spot next season, but fans might want to save their money for billboards welcoming him to town rather than giving money away hoping he’ll join their franchise.