I would like to begin by saying that, as a fan of the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers, I am not happy that LeBron James has decided to blow $50M on a house in Miami to “take his talents to South Beach.”
I will miss rooting for James for 82+ games next year.
I will miss regularly watching one of the most talented athletes the sport of basketball has ever seen.
Will I miss putting up with his shit? Not so much.
With all of that out of the way then, let’s get to the real dirt, and question numero uno:
Why the hell was LeBron’s decision so confusing, especially to Cavaliers fans and Clevelanders?
To start, this was a case where - unlike in the past, as far as the Indians were concerned - Cleveland could actually offer more money than any other team.
In almost every other situation in professional sports history, this would have been enough for a franchise to keep its star.
Many people will tell you that the difference between the two contracts was small when looked at over 5 years instead of 6, and that the lack of a state income tax in Florida meant that LeBron would actually make more money in 5 years in Miami than he would in 5 years in Cleveland.
These people are ignoring the cost of living discrepancy between Miami and Cleveland. I’m sure the Heat contingent conveniently forgot to mention this in their recruiting meeting as well.
Economically speaking then, James’s decision was entirely illogical and therefore difficult to comprehend. For Clevelanders it was worse because we had seen several high profile free agents leave in the past, as the Indians were outbid by the Yankees and the Red Sox. This, however, was a situation where Cleveland could pay the most. The tables had finally turned…
And then it didn’t make a difference.
So what about all of the other factors?
Anyone who listened to LeBron blow smoke for the past 7 years heard him mention the words “Akron,” “loyalty,” “friends,” and “family” a billion times. Above all else, we were led to believe he loved Akron. He loved the home that had been created for him, with his help, because of his unbelievable basketball talent. He made a movie about it. He had Buzz Bissinger write a book about it. He held his first MVP award presentation at his high school. He said he wanted to light Cleveland up like Vegas. He dragged Gisele Bundchen to Akron for a Vogue cover shoot for god sakes.
LeBron loved home…
And then went on to completely disregard it for “The Decision.”
Yet, at the same time, we also heard LeBron say over and over, during his seemingly endless press stops in New York, that the biggest factor in his free agency decision wouldn’t be money. It would be winning. He said this repeatedly, so much so that I basically wrote it off as the kind of thing an athlete says even when it isn’t true, simply because it’s good for his image.
And in an age where athletes routinely go through media training, trust me, this is more often than not the M.O. every time something comes out of their mouth.
But was LeBron actually telling the truth this time?
It certainly seems like he was.
He actually took less money, less than the max, to go and play for a team that he believes - rightly or wrongly - gives him the best shot to win multiple championships.
This is relatively, if not completely, unheard of in pro sports.
Furthermore, LeBron actually took less money to go to a team that already has a superstar. In other words, on some level, he put his ego aside to do what he thought gave him the best chance to win.
Taking less money is one thing, but also acting selflessly (to a certain extent) for the all mighty W?
Wow. When the hell does that ever happen?
Almost never.
In fact, selfishness and greed are the two qualities I most often hear people railing against when they discuss pro athletes. Here we have the MVP of the NBA acting almost completely the opposite of both of those negative traits, and what happens?
He gets crucified for it.
Pretty complicated, right?
And I haven’t even stretched the “home” theme out further. Could it be possible that LeBron sees Wade and Bosh as such great friends that he considers them family? Or maybe Wade manipulated LeBron, maybe Wade told Bosh - or better yet, maybe Pat Riley told Wade - “Hey, just keep telling him you guys are best friends. I’ll pretend I’m the father he’s never had. We can get to this guy….” Home, friends, and family can take on a lot of different forms.
Ostensibly, if LBJ-Wade-Bosh win a championship this year, will we be “treated” to More Than a Game 2, with footage from Wade and Bosh’s free agency tours edited in to a season long documentary about adversity, and how it was these three guys’ friendship that allowed the Heat to win the NBA championship in 2011?
Don’t laugh. I could see it happening. It certainly fits the formula.
In the end, I find myself feeling not only confused about LeBron’s decision, because of how it made almost complete sense and no sense at the same time, but also confused about how I’m supposed to feel about it. In some sense, LeBron did everything we want athletes to do but assume they never will. On the other hand, he acted like an oblivious, narcissistic fool, with almost no regard for things like loyalty, legacy, and the call to greatness.
And that’s why, more often than not, when you see me talking about LeBron James from now on, you’ll see me scratching my head.
