LeBron’s stars may not align
Leonard? George? King’s demanding act can be hard to sell
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has covered LeBron James longer than just about anybody: he went to the same high school before LeBron did, covered the phenom when LeBron was a teenager, and followed him to the NBA. Windhorst has co-written three books about him, knows the man and knows the ground he has covered. Windhorst was on colleague Zach Lowe’s podcast recently and said, “when he makes up his mind ... I think it’s going to be, ‘I want to have happiness’ ... on a personal level, after everything I’ve seen him go through, I just want for him — for him — to be happy.”
But what does happy look like? What does it mean? As the NBA prepares for its annual Holy Crap Swap Meet, LeBron remains, as ever, the biggest domino. He is a free agent. He is shopping around. It’s been a nice four-year run in Cleveland, just as it was a nice four-year run in Miami. It’s like LeBron has been reproducing a college experience he never had: he was dubbed The Chosen One by Sports Illustrated at age 17, and off he went. That phrase has since been tattooed across his shoulders, and he has largely lived up to it.
And now, after going home again, well ... he did what he could in Cleveland. They traded Kyrie Irving. J.R. Smith forgot the score. Unless he has no better choice, time to go.
But, to where? Houston? Philadelphia? There is no obvious destination that ticks all the boxes. The Lakers await, as they always do, and many in the league think that’s the play. The Lakers have been wandering in the semi-glitzy wilderness for years now, dreaming of a return to glory. Living in Los Angeles as a rich person is good for your lifestyle. LeBron’s family would surely enjoy the weather. His sons, who play, would surely enjoy the basketball scene. The Lakers! Mikan, Baylor, West, Chamberlain, Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe.
(The Raptors are pondering major, rebuilding-style moves, according to league sources; that plan may change if LeBron goes west.)
But will he be happy if he ends up in L.A. doing the equivalent of a Vegas showbiz residency — playing the hits without the same stakes? It is being widely reported the Lakers are chasing disgruntled San Antonio superstar Kawhi Leonard, who is said to want to be a Laker. Paul George, who said he wanted to be a Laker before he was traded to Oklahoma City, is also a free agent. George would make a great Scottie Pippen and Leonard, when healthy, is almost as good as anybody in basketball. The Lakers and LeBron could matter, if they can put the right group together.
What if they can’t? The Spurs know they are trading a 26-year-old superstar and will drive a hard bargain, at their pace. What if nobody comes? Reports are flying around: LeBron asked Durant to come to L.A. Kawhi may want to play with LeBron, or not. LeBron has, according to league sources, asked at least one other star whether he would consider joining up.
But one undercurrent of LeBron’s peerless generational career is this: he can be exhausting. The klieg light attention, the passive-aggressive jibes, the moodiness of the king. He’s the greatest player in the league, and it’s not particularly close, but if you’re not his buddy — like Dwyane Wade in Miami — it can wear on you. The Cavaliers tried to grab George from Indiana and Jimmy Butler from Chicago last year; George agreed to deal with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, and Butler went to the comparative dysfunction of Minnesota instead.
So what if LeBron James ends up alone? We all end up alone, in a fundamental way, but that is far too depressing a thought in these fractious times. But what if LeBron finds himself in L.A. surrounded by the 35-win kids the Lakers have assembled and allowed to run around?
God, would that be depressing. There was an awe in watching LeBron carry this Cavaliers team around, like Atlas staggering forward shouldering the globe. He broke the Raptors: the escape in Game 1, the elegant bludgeoning in Game 2, the final blow in Game 3. He got them to within one possession of a win over Golden State in Game 1, for goodness sakes. Golden State has broken basketball, more or less. Houston nearly had them; Cleveland never did.
And if LeBron makes a decision based purely on his and his family’s happiness, well, he deserves that. But it would also be a shame. As he marched through the playoffs people close to the Cavaliers laughed; they knew LeBron didn’t think it was a title team, that he was partway sick of it, that he was wasting some of the limited mileage that he has left. He has played 54,347 combined minutes in his NBA career and remains near his peak. There is nothing else like him, and there has never been. It would be a shame to waste whatever’s left on second-round exits, and life by the beach.
So it has come to this: LeBron James will find a home somewhere. It might even be his last one. And wherever it is, we should hope there is enough of a team after he arrives for the greatest player in the world to matter. We would miss him, if he was even partway gone.