The Cleveland Cavaliers and the rest of the NBA are waiting on LeBron James to choose a team. As reporting comes out on the decision before him, the Cavaliers have much reason to feel good about their position in the LeBron sweepstakes.
On his weekly podcast with All-NBA podcast host Adam Mares, NBA Insider Marc Stein shared the temperature of executives around the league. While many teams believe that they have a real chance at signing LeBron James, the expectation is that they will have to put together a compelling case to convince him not to pick the frontrunner: the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stein cast the vision for Cleveland: they combine the storybook ending of LeBron returning home to his hometown team for the third and final time, alongside the benefits of joining an Eastern Conference contender and having a better chance of making the NBA Finals. And every other team is trying to beat the Cleveland option.
The Cavaliers are the front runners
That hardly means the Cavaliers have this in the bag. All of the reporting has been that LeBron intends to take his time making this decision, and his longtime friend, business partner and agent Rich Paul is saying the same in his public appearances. That means plenty of time for another team to close the gap.
The advantage that Cleveland has is undeniable, however. There has always been a special connection between the Akron-raised James and his hometown team. The miracle of the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery was that the greatest prospect of all time bypassed college and went from high school in Akron to the NBA in Cleveland.
That connection brought LeBron back to the Cavaliers after four wildly productive seasons in Miami, and he took them to four-straight NBA Finals and delivered the first and only championship trophy in franchise history. That shared history has a magnetic pull that is sure to be tugging on LeBron's heart right now.
Hard to beat the Cleveland option
If this is truly the end of the road, it's hard to beat the storybook ending of returning to Cleveland for one last ride. Having a film crew document this season with the Cavs is a content dream, a story so fantastic it seems made up.
It certainly helps that the Cavaliers are already good, making the Eastern Conference Finals last season. They also play in the East, so the pathway to the NBA Finals is clear of Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic. If James is hoping to reach his 11th NBA Finals, the East is the way to go.
There are barriers to a reunion as well. LeBron won't suddenly fix all of the flaws this roster has, and they did lose an important piece in Dean Wade. The fit of LeBron, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell is certainly not ideal. The East may not have the league's two juggernauts, but they do have the reigning champs in the New York Knicks.
Even so, with plenty of race to go, the best spot to be in is first place. That's where the Cavaliers stand, and another team will need to go over the top to convince James not to pick the obvious choise. A homecoming appears to be closer than ever.
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