Lebron has earned many nicknames throughout the years - "King James"; "Rushmore"; "the Demoralizer" - some good, others not so flattering. It is those latter realities - his humanness so to speak - that has put him in the undesirable position of being an aged, albeit skilled player that any team could use, but none can afford.
WHO WANTS LEBRON?
The problem with being great is that it seldom lends to humility. Let's be frank - Lebron James is the best all-around player in NBA history. He may not be as dominant as were the likes Shaq, Wilt and Kareem. But he can literally play the 1 through 5, unlike anyone else who's ever graced the stage.
That's in addition to James, even going on a quarter century(!) in the league, remaining immensely popular. I agree with Kendrick Perkins, that there isn't anyone currently poised to take over as 'the face of the league'. You got players out there like Wemby and Ant-Man(?), neither of whom, you know what I'm saying? Jokic is supposed to be like the best player, followed by dudes like Luka and SGA, but none of them niggas have swag. Even Giannis, like he's cool, but you know what I mean?
Lebron isn't exactly Mr. Swag himself, not compared to his face-of-the-league predecessor, Michael "MJ" Jordan. LBJ isn't exactly what you would call pretty. But he's been so dominant for so long, like who can deny him? Dude is averaging a half-triple double, even in his 40s.
So going back to who wants Lebron, I could imagine that every team in the NBA wouldn't mind having him, if not for one caveat. And that, dear reader, would be the fact that he (now) sucks on defense - and as the seasons creep by is only becoming more aged in that regard. Father Time can be defeated so to speak, but you still have to respect him. Like niggas reach a certain age where you don't want to be chasing around whippersnappers anymore, not like as part of your job type shit.
The mainstream media is only now grasping that fact, that aged Lebron doesn't play defense for shit, but this is a discussion we've already been having for years at NBA Inception. That's in addition to LBJ insisting to play out of position. If he played more like an actual four - even a modern-day one - i.e. being able to function more off the ball, Lebron would sitll be invaluable, offensively at least.
But as it currently stands, if you were to put him on, say, the Thunder, if James played more than like 15mpg, he would totally fuck up the flow, and so it would be on virtually any team who are contenders. Ideally, LBJ would be running a second unit by this stage in his career, or be surrounded by young dudes who could mitigate his defensive deficiencies. Even at this age, he'd be the best sixth man in the league. But again, it'd have to be a team who's second unit actually needs a leader, because you can't ask Lebron, after all these years of doing his thing, to suddenly become a role player. Like you can't even ask him to come off the bench; he'd have to agree to do it himself.
HOW MUCH IS LEBRON WORTH?
Then comes the question of pay. If Lebron were, say, on the Pacers - a team that's just taking up NBA space so to speak - and making $50+ million, then it's all good, because he would be the main draw, and they don't have any realistic title aspirations. But on a squad that's actually trying to win it all - any squad, including Cleveland - earning that much makes him liability because, that's money that can be used for someone(s) who plays offense and defense. Meanwhile, you can't ask him to play on any team that isn't a contender. You can't like ask Lebron to go and play for the Magic, no matter how much they could pay him. The days of LBJ being able to go on any team and instantly make them contenders are long gone.
And imagine, say, Lebron going back to the Cavs, salary reduced, while someone like the Beard is being paid the max. Imagine Lebron on any team and not being the highest paid player. There's only a handful of players he could humble himself to like that - Mitchell, a perennial all-star in his prime, maybe, but not the Beard. I can't even see SGA making more money than Lebron if they were on the same team. In the business world, when it comes to contracts and shit like that, we're supposed to be compensated based not only on our current performance but also past accomplishments.
So Lebron, arguably the G.O.A.T., can't bow out of the game like Vince Carter or CP3, on that veteran's minimum shit. WTF for? Is he broke? Does he want to get at least one ring before he retires type shit?
CONCLUSION
I was the first one, at the beginning of this season - before any of these media dudes or the Cavs or even James himself jumped on the bandwagon - who suggested that Lebron should go back to Cleveland. This was due to him, finally for the first time in his career, being on a team with a player who's inarguably better. And I'm not saying that Luka, another defensive liability, is literally better than Lebron type shit. It's more like young Luka is better than old Lebron.
Also, the implication when I made that suggestion was that LBJ would go back to Cleveland understanding that he'd be playing a reduced role, that Mitchell, Mobley and even the likes of Garland would have precedence. It was more on some emotional boost type shit, after that sorely-disappointing postseason they had last year - to push them over the Haliburton hump so to speak. But now that they've gone out and got Harden, like who wants to see him and Lebron on the same team at this stage in their careers? This past All-Star Game also verified something I've been saying for years, that (professional) athletics is a youth game.
So yeah, LBJ should just call it quits already. Go as hard as you can this coming offseason, but after that, like give it a break already. Leave the game before it leaves you to type shit. It would have been cool if you went back home this season. But if the Cavs flunk again this coming postseason - as I'm confident they will - reacquiring Lebron next season, especially at some inflated price, would not be the solution.
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