Cleveland Cavaliers fans owe LeBron James a warm reception in his return
Cleveland Cavaliers’ legend LeBron James will be playing in Quicken Loans Arena again tomorrow night, but as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. This time, though, unlike when James returned as a member of the Miami Heat, LeBron deserves a standing ovation.
The best player in Cleveland Cavaliers history, LeBron James, is slated to make his long-awaited return to Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday, this time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. James recently spoke to Joe Vardon of The Athletic (to view it, you must have a subscription from The Athletic), and said “he’s not expecting a reaction from Cavs fans anything like what he was met by in 2010,” and for good reason.
That was a totally different time.
The circumstances surrounding this return are different, and fans reactions should be as well.
In 2010, LeBron James was the villain of the NBA; the home-grown star who spurned the region the raised him. In 2018, he’ll return as the basketball messiah that delivered on his promise and brought Cleveland their first professional sports championship in 50 years, and he deserves to be celebrated as such.
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Nobody that’s a fan of Cleveland sports will ever forget James’ iconic block in the closing stretch in transition on the Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodola. I’m going to venture to say that the Cavaliers play that in their LeBron highlight reel, which will reportedly be playing at some point early in the Cavs-Lakers game, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
Cleveland Cavaliers fans need to accept the fact that he moved on, and that he did everything he could during his time in Cleveland in “The Return.” Leaving the second time was a product of a dysfunctional organization, not a shot at Cavs fans in any way. Heck, James even opened his “I Promise School,” in Akron in late July despite now being a Laker, as Vardon (then affiliated with Cleveland.com) previously demonstrated.
James went about his departure the right away the second time around. There was no national TV special, but a simple press release from James’ agent, Rich Paul. It was nothing that could be conceived as trashing the city.
While it still hurts, most anger should be directed toward the Cavaliers’ organization, whose epic botching of the Kyrie Irving trade (as was highlighted by James in the interview with Vardon), among other factors, seemingly pushed James out the door.
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No one is saying Cavs fans need to cheer for him during the game, but when he’s introduced, he has earned a standing ovation.