LeBron James is the best player of his generation and arguably the greatest ever. But having him undoubtedly complicates an organization’s operations.
LeBron James is without question one of the top three players ever and arguably the greatest ever, but it’s fair to wonder if he can make it difficult on an organization at times. First off, I want to be clear that if there was a way for LeBron to come back right now we should all take it. Whatever happens with him is all worth it when you factor in all the fun moments and Finals runs the Cleveland Cavaliers had with him.
With that said, as great as LeBron is as a player, he can make it difficult on an organization at times, giving everything that comes with him being on your team and the added pressure it creates on everybody else, as Sports Illustrated’s Andrew Sharp recently detailed.
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I’m in no way saying he’s responsible for everything that doesn’t work out for an organization, but he does deserve some blame in some aspects. If you look at what’s going on with the Los Angeles Lakers with all the turmoil and drama currently happening right before the trade deadline, it’s very similar to last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Interestingly enough, it was about this time last year when the Cavaliers had an embarrassing loss to a bad Magic team right before the deadline. That ultimately led to general manager Koby Altman completely changing the roster at the trade deadline not long after.
This year, the Lakers have been in the thick of trade rumors as the trade deadline approaches and ironically are coming off a 42-point loss to an Indiana Pacers team without Victor Oladipo.
The summer of 2017 is where a lot of the speculation about LeBron’s commitment to the Cleveland Cavaliers began. Kyrie Irving ultimately asked for a trade that summer, and according to a recent report from The Athletic’s Joe Vardon (subscription required and h/t Cavaliers Nation’s Danny Small), Irving wanted out of Cleveland partly because he was “sick of the never-ending rumors surrounding James’ upcoming free agency.”
James not giving the Cavaliers a commitment did, in some ways, handcuff them in terms of how aggressive they could be in improving the team.
It seemed that Irving may have also wanted out because he didn’t want to play as the number two to James’ number one anymore.
That same summer, the Cleveland Cavaliers may have had the chance of forming a “Big 3” of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Paul George, though. You would think that Irving could be content with being a part of that great of a trio, anyhow.
Of course, it would only come to fruition if LeBron gave some kind of commitment to the Cavaliers.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was on “The Adam Schefter Podcast’ in June 2018 and mentioned that there was a real possibility that George-to-Cleveland could’ve happened if LeBron did indeed commit to the Cavaliers in the summer of 2017:
"“Last summer, they could have acquired Paul George. And I think Paul George wanted to know, ‘Well, if LeBron commits to some years going forward, then I might be willing to commit’. And when LeBron wasn’t willing to commit to an extension that told me they could have had Paul George and they could have done that without losing Kyrie. That’s a very different team: Kyrie Irving, Paul George, and LeBron James. “"
It’s very plausible that LeBron not giving a commitment played a part with the way the rest of that summer and season played out.
I’m not saying LeBron deserves the majority of the blame, I still give that to the Cavaliers’ front office. If you have a generational player like LeBron, you go for championships as long as you have him. You don’t trade Kyrie in a deal where a draft pick is the number one asset. It wasn’t LeBron’s decision to trade Kyrie and he’s not the one that botched the trade, so the franchise being in the position that they’re in is not LeBron’s fault.
However, I think it’s fair to at least say that LeBron can make it difficult on an organization sometimes with the manner he operates. But when you factor in how great he is on the court and how far he can take a franchise in terms of winning, it’s absolutely worth it.