With the Cavs season coming to end, Brian Windhorst dives into the factors impacting LeBron James’ future. This LeBron James free-agency decision is going to be his most personal.
When he went to Miami in 2010, it was about business; he badly needed to become a champion. When he returned to Cleveland in 2014, in what he hoped was his last move, it was about legacy.
James has his championships now. No matter what anyone says on the matter, he also believes his legacy is secure. With the Cleveland Cavaliers losing in the Finals for the second straight year, the choices and options in front of him are complex. Put more simply, James might not see any option he truly likes at this point.
Dramatic moves brought Cleveland a championship in 2016. Now they might bring on the pain.
LeBron James said his family and desire to “still want to be in championship mode” will dictate where he’ll play next season, but he offered little detail as to when he’ll make that decision.
Despite whatever assumptions exist, for months James and those closest to him have made it clear that no decision about the future has been made or the choices even fully vetted. There’s no well-formulated plan ready to be executed.
There are a few issues James will have to work through and probably prioritize. And perhaps he’ll have to make some tough compromises.
LeBron James’ family will have some influence on his free-agency decision this summer. Ethan Miller/Getty Images
James’ oldest son, Bronny, is 13. His younger son, Bryce, will turn 11 next week. They will be able to voice their feelings on the decision this time.
They have spent time in Miami and Akron and even Los Angeles in the summers. Bronny is a standout basketball player who has a chance at an NBA future, and his development and comfort through his teen years, of course, is important.
James’ wife, Savannah, was already a driving force in 2014 when James came home to Akron. James loves watching his sons play basketball.
It’s hard to see him being apart from his family, which includes 3-year-old daughter Zhuri, at this stage of his life. In 2010, he left Savannah and his young sons in Ohio when he first moved to Miami. Now, where they want to live is a deeper factor.
James has been on the record many times — including in his coming home letter four years ago — that he wants to finish his career in Cleveland. That is still the case. But a difficult year for the Cavs has made this a challenging time for James to consider how he wants to spend his final act.
The departure of general manager David Griffin, Kyrie Irving’s trade demand and a high-stress season may have shaken James’ outlook. A series of mental mistakes during the Finals, namely JR Smith’s blunder in Game 1, led James to muse “how do you put together a group of talent but also a group of minds to be able to compete” with the Warriors this week.
The Cavs are capped out and have limited trade assets, and it’s unclear how much immediate help their No. 8 pick in the draft can provide. The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers established themselves this season as the teams of the future in the Eastern Conference, and the Cavs lack a clear path to make up ground.
It’s the result of competing all out for the past four years, where the team traded picks and signed players to huge deals in the name of surrounding James with talent in the moment. But there remains little to no trust between James and owner Dan Gilbert, and a limited relationship with general manager Koby Altman, who is less than two years older than James.
