The Decision was the most fascinating player empowerment moment in sports history. It’s 15 years gone now, but I remember what it was like, my first week in a newly created position at CBS as a blogger, when he sat there in that Boys and Girls Club with Jim Gray (of all people!1) and announced he was taking his talents… you know the rest.
Just a chaotic week of shock and awe as news of the Triad, as I call them, came together. That weird reveal at the arena, with them in their jerseys, being interviewed on chairs, with smoke and pyro? Just a bizarre time.
I did have the perfect thought when considering how he should announce his next and last team, though.
He should go on Hot Ones.
Sean Evans interviews him about life growing up, asks about More Than A Game and the surreality of being famous at that age. He goes through what he’s learned in his time in the league, The Decision, the Return, the move to the Lakers, the Bubble. He’s introspective and detailed as Sean digs up stories so few know.
Then he eats Da Bomb and is asked by Evans “LeBron, it’s time. Where are you playing the final season of your legendary career?”
LeBron, choking, gasping, eeks out “I’M GOING HOME, SEAN! FUCK!” and then takes a huge drink of milk. Final shot of him, bleary-eyed, wearing the Cavs hat and smiling just like in his rookie photo.
There’s no other result for LeBron that is narratively satisfying.
I am physically repulsed by the idea of Golden State. The end of his career cannot be in a soulless arena playing for the team that he feuded with at his absolute cultural if not basketball zenith. LeBron vs. the Warriors was an iconic rivalry ten years ago. It would be like if (health provided) Magic joined the Celtics or Bird the Lakers in ‘93.
Deeply wrong. I also feel the inevitable end of that is sadness. The core is simply past its expiration point.2
Miami isn’t bad; it’s a return to a golden age of LeBron. The best basketball he ever played was there.3 He gets to play with Giannis and Bam, contemporaries. He respects Riley even if their disagreement remains. I’m mostly unimpressed with the team construct and think they’ll only be pretty good, but it’s not a bad story.
Minnesota, I like, because it’s like the equivalent of the wrestler putting over the young guy in his retirement match. He’s paying it forward by taking Anthony Edwards under his wing and teaching him how to reach the mountaintop.4 There’s good and bad there because LeBron might give him the same advice KG gave LeBron in 2010 after their playoff series that KG said he wished someone had given him.
Denver’s the best basketball fit. 5 LeBron and Jokic on the same team with their understanding of the floor, angles, and dynamics would be sublime. They would love to play together. LeBron has legitimately never played with a player as good as Jokic.6 He’d have Murray as the kind of guard he pairs well with and Aaron Gordon to take the tougher defensive assignments.
I’m cold on Philly. It’s building some sort of super team that’s still a really fragile construct with Embiid’s injuries for a team that still only made the play-in last year. The jump from PG to Jaylen Brown is significant, but how many wins? Five? Ten? Does that get them to 51? Is that a real contender? Meanwhile, if it goes badly, the fans will turn on him. That… could get ugly.
But from a story standpoint, neither Minnesota, Philly, nor Denver holds up. There’s no legacy to those teams or connection to LeBron’s story. New York would have been the right one had they not won the title (and I kind of still think it is). Another legendary franchise on the opposite side. If they hadn’t won a title, it would have been perfect. But they’re out.
The way I’ve told people the best way to imagine this is to close your eyes, and imagine that first chalk toss of his last season. All the cameras blasting. He throws up that chalk, and you get chills. Is it in a sterile mausoleum surrounded by the decrepit remains of his former enemy? Is it in some random locale with no real juice?
Or is it back where it started, in Cleveland?
I’m still amazed that we’re here, watching LeBron hold the basketball world in a grip of waiting, at age 42. He’s the most fascinating athlete of the modern era7 and we’re still hanging on every rumor and report about him.
This is the last time we wonder where LeBron’s going, what’s LeBron thinking, how is this going to end?
I’m hopeful for an ending worthy of the story in all its good and bad. I’m scared for the last movie in the franchise being a bummer on the way out.8
Who would it be now? It wouldn’t be Zach Lowe. It wouldn’t be any of the ESPN personalities — God, can you imagine Perk in that chair? Malika Andrews would work. Maybe Dave McMenamin, given that Dave’s now chronicled him for over a decade. Gray was an odd choice to begin with, an aging reporter who had bounced around. James needed an Ahmad Rashad. Would it be Rich Paul? That would be so weird to have the agent doing the interview. Maybe Taylor Rooks; that would track.
It’s a bizarre dichotomy that players can play later than ever, with several players now approaching 40 when it used to be unheard of, and yet those teams can’t win. For multiple decades, you couldn’t win unless you had a veteran team with multiple players in their 30s but no one played past 35. Now everyone plays past 35, but they can’t win.
Do NOT be fooled by the 2017 Cavs. His offensive control and mastery were never higher, but his athleticism was slightly gone. The 2012 version posted up, mangled mismatches, controlled the floor, flew through the air, defended like a human missile array, and could spread the floor. If you want 2013, I’ll accept it because his jumper crystallized that season, but those are the only two serious answers.
I actually love the idea of him going to San Antonio for this reason. No one knows the weight that Wemby is carrying like LeBron does.
I have to make the point that I do not want this, lest I be described as a homer for the team I cover. I do not want this at all. I do not want the ESPN presence. I do not want the visiting national reporters asking Jokic questions he will blame the local media for. I do not want the circus and how people around town will parachute in acting like they’ve covered this team the whole time. I do not benefit from covering LeBron. No one’s going to me for LeBron thoughts on major platforms. I gain nothing but headaches.
The list, by the way, is unequivocally: 1. Wade 2. Luka 3. Bosh 4. Kyrie 5. AD 6. Love 7. Ilgauskas. And Love is closer to AD than AD is to Kyrie.
Someone asked me if he was the most fascinating of all time and I think Ali, Maravich, Bonds, and Megatron surpass him. Tyson, too, but he’s also a monster.
Godfather Part III, The Rise of Skywalker, all of the Fast & Furious movies after Six, etc.
Great article. Why do you think Kyrie >> AD? I feel like I'd definitely take 2020 AD over 2016 Kyrie if I was building a team to win a championship in one year (ignoring injuries).
Excellent read. I can agree with you that from a narrative standpoint, there’s no beating Cleveland. Still would love to see him in Minnesota for the entertainment factor