LeBron James misses chance to play in Cleveland, and us Cavs fans miss it, too

On Thursday, LeBron James tweeted about how he misses the chance to play the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, in what was scheduled to be on Thursday, and us Cavs fans are missing seeing him play the Wine and Gold in Cleveland, too. Given the NBA’s season suspension, though, we won’t see James in action.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were scheduled to play the best player in their history in LeBron James on March 26, but with the NBA being suspended due to precautions being exercised by the league in regards to the novel coronavirus pandemic and social distancing being applied around the country, the Cavs won’t be playing the Lakers on Thursday.

At this point, it’s uncertain if the 2019-20 NBA season will eventually resume, given the severity of COVID-19, but rest assured, the owners and players do want to try to resume the current season at some point.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in an appearance on ESPN’s Outside The Lines on Monday, owners and players want to finish out the season “no matter what,” which I completely understand, but we’ll see on that.

Anyhow, it was at least nice to see LeBron show his appreciation for the Cleveland/Akron area in a tweet on Thursday afternoon where he essentially stressed how he was really “looking forward” to playing back in Cleveland on Thursday and is missing that chance, and us Cavs fans are missing seeing him play the Wine and Gold here, too. That again, was originally set to be the case.

LeBron left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time via unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018 to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, but those circumstances were vastly different from the first time he left to the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010.

Most notably, James set out and accomplished what he intended to do in his return to Cleveland back in the summer of 2014, and brought a championship to the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland, eventually leading the Wine and Gold to their only title in franchise history in 2016.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

In that unreal 3-1 comeback, which is the only time in league history that’s been done in the NBA Finals, let alone against the team that set the record for single-season wins in the Golden State Warriors, one couldn’t have scripted better play from Bron.

In that series, James was unbelievable. Granted, I’ll give pieces such as former Cav Kyrie Irving, whose shot ultimately got Cleveland the lead with under a minute left in the deciding Game 7, and he was incredible, too, and Tristan Thompson came up huge throughout the series as well.

However, Bron led all players in that series in points (29.7), rebounds (11.3), assists (8.9), steals (2.6) and blocks (2.3) per game, according to Basketball Reference, and he was rightfully the MVP.

Furthermore, James led the Cavaliers in his second stint with the team to four straight NBA Finals appearances, and was the centerpiece of the squad in the best run in team history from the 2014-15 season through the 2017-18 campaign.

Along with that, James, who is by far the best player in Cavs’ history, played 11 seasons with the Wine and Gold, and is Cleveland’s all-time leader in games and minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, steals, PER and win shares, as indicated by Basketball Reference.

Meanwhile, James has still put up 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game with the Lakers thus far this season going into the NBA’s season suspension, and also is leading the league with 10.6 assists per game, per NBA.com. He’s in YEAR 17 of his career, too!

Clearly, though, the King and Akron/Cleveland will always have a special bond, in large part because of what he accomplished as a Cavalier and how he helped the surrounding communities. Just look at the “I Promise School” the LeBron James Family Foundation helps greatly in supporting and helped open in 2018, for instance.

It was again nice to see James show his appreciation for the Akron/Cleveland area in that aforementioned tweet, anyhow, and just like he misses his opportunity to play in Cleveland, us Cavs fans are missing the chance to see him play here, too.

Additionally, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor also pointed out, Thursday would’ve also been the home opener for the Cleveland Indians for their 2020 season, too.

On a tough note, though, LeBron on an appearance on the “Road Trippin'” podcast with former Cavs Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye and former Cavs sideline reporter Allie Clifton touched on how it would be rough to not see the late Fred McLeod calling the game from a Cavs perspective (and h/t Fox Sports Cleveland). That’s still something that hits us Cavs fans, I’m sure Fred’s wife, Beth and their family, too, and so many others; RIP, Fred.

Moreover, as LeBron also hit on and McLeod himself would be saying, staying safe is the number one priority for everybody right now and we have to do our part in helping limit the spread of COVID-19.