When LeBron James made the shocking decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers last week, the vibe within the Cleveland Cavaliers’ fanbase consisted of a mixture of anger, pain and horror at the stunning turn of events.
How on Earth could this Cleveland legend resist the storybook ending with his hometown team? No one believed that this reality could be the one we’re living in. And yet, here we are.
However, there is a world, a very realistic world at that, in which James spurning Cleveland ends up being a significant win for the Cavaliers, loss for the 76ers or both.
However you’d like to slice it, James’ move to Philadelphia constitutes the attempt to construct the league’s next superteam. Adding James and Jaylen Brown to the core of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid is a move that, in the past, would practically guarantee an NBA title.
Throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, there was a direct correlation between building superteams and winning championships. The Boston Celtics are often said to have kicked this era off, bringing in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce in a move that would result in the 2008 championship.
James’ himself drove the era to new heights when he signed with the Miami Heat, and along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, won a couple of titles. A few years later, Kevin Durant became the greatest villain to step on a basketball court when he signed with the Golden State Warriors, but it, once again, proved successful and the core of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green rolled to a pair of championships in 2017 and 2018.
Although, as is true in any facet of life, eras are not permanent and in the NBA, the direction of the league moves as quickly as anything.
Parity has resulted in the death of the superteam
As the NBA moved into the 2020s, a new phenomenon began to occur: the onset of parity. There has not been a repeat champion since the Warriors dynasty discussed above and in the past eight years, there have been eight different champions as the league has evened out.
But, despite that, the superteam era did not go down without a fight. Durant made his second superteam move after leaving Golden State, pairing up with Kyrie Irving and James Harden, but the group imploded without even winning the Eastern Conference.
Durant was then dealt to the Phoenix Suns to form yet another superteam with Devin Booker and Chris Paul (before parting with Paul and adding Bradley Beal). This time, Durant’s crew didn’t even make the conference finals.
Elsewhere, James and the Los Angeles Lakers attempted to build a superteam of their own, adding Russell Westbrook to go with James and Anthony Davis in 2021. That ended in a nightmare for the biggest brand in basketball, with the team missing the playoffs before dealing Westbrook away in the middle of the 2022-23 season.
The Los Angeles Clippers are the last glaring example of a superteam gone wrong in the past few years. The All-Star pairing of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George had come up short for years and they added both Westbrook and Harden by 2023-24. But, between Westbrook’s decline and Harden’s playoff woes, and the Clippers broke the group up, with George leaving in free agency in 2024 and Harden being traded to Cleveland in 2026.
Now, the 76ers are just the latest iteration to emulate an era gone by. James is no stranger to ring chasing via the superteam route. He’s done it and won and he’s done it and lost, but clearly, in his mind, he must feel that he can pull the era from its grave. In hindsight, his attempts for Cleveland to acquire Irving or Davis proved that from the start.
To be fair, the 76ers are well constructed. Their starting five fits together nicely, and they have solid depth. But, the East is as strong as it has been since perhaps James’ time in Miami and the semi-recent construction of the apron system makes it difficult for team’s to stack stars in a sustainable manner.
Philadelphia’s window is short, and if it doesn’t go perfectly (which is a tough bet given the depth of the conference), it will almost certainly end in fiery explosion that would mark the superteam era as officially dead.
Cleveland has a choice to make
Looking at Cleveland’s side, the Cavaliers are at a bit of a crossroads. On one hand, they can commit to the group that they have now given they just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals this past May. Or, they can retool and build assets while the East settles down a bit.
Given Cleveland’s uncertain place in the hierarchy of the conference, Option B feels much safer. At this point, the Cavaliers should be considered a clear tier below the likes of the reigning champion New York Knicks and newly constructed 76ers.
They also probably are no longer better than the Toronto Raptors, who took Cleveland to seven games last season and just added Leonard (assuming the trade goes through). After that, it’s fair to place the Cavaliers in a relatively similar tier to the Heat, who just added Giannis Antetokounmpo; the Detroit Pistons, the reigning No. 1 seed; the Indiana Pacers, who were a game away from a championship two years ago; the Orlando Magic, the league's highest payroll; the Atlanta Hawks, who took two games off the Knicks last year while the Cavs were swept; and the dreaded Boston Celtics.
So, Cleveland would stack up anywhere from fourth to 10th. That range is tough to bank on a title winner and because of that, it might behoove the Cavaliers to take a season to gather assets and let a team or two drop out of contention. A year from now, perhaps the 76ers blow it up as well as a team such as Atlanta or Orlando. There are a multitude of possibilities, but it’s hard to imagine that the East will ever be better than it is now.
The Cavaliers could trade Jarrett Allen, Dennis Schroder and Max Strus this offseason and bring back a very nice mixture of young talent and draft assets. Then, they could sign Harden to a two-year deal, and trade him during the season, maximizing getting off another aging player.
From there, despite having a somewhat questionable on-court fit, the team would build around Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley with both the draft capital and cap space to make other moves. That way, they’ll still be able to compete in the East come 2027-28 while also being flexible enough to adjust at the pace of the league, an aspect they are sorely lacking at the moment.
Of course, there a million different ways that Cleveland can go down this route, but at this moment, the Cavaliers should take solace in both James’ seemingly certain doom in Philadelphia and Cleveland’s ability to look towards the future.
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