The Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James will always be linked by an unbreakable chain. The hometown superstar who defined not one but two eras of Ohio basketball and brought a title to The Land. He is beloved and revered by the fans of the Cavaliers and always will be. Just look to the title of our fan site.
The dream that is talked about more and more as LeBron approaches the end of his career is one more return to Cleveland, a farewell tour where he joins a talented young Cavs squad and helps make one last run at a title. Yet that dream may be closed off if recent rumors about LeBron's career come to pass.
It was announced this week that LeBron James will begin to wear a special jersey patch for each of his remaining games this season. It has "23" - both his jersey number and the number of seasons that he has played in the NBA - with a silhouette of his famous pregame chalk toss and three colored stripes, one for each of the three franchises he has played for.
After each game, the patch will be removed from his jersey and sent to Topps, who will insert the path into a trading card. The commemoration began in Sacramento on Monday night, ostensibly because James debuted against the Kings back in October of 2003. Just like in his debut, James lost to the Kings on Monday night, putting a bit of a sour taste on the pomp and circumstance of the new jersey patch.
While the idea of James celebrating his season makes sense in a vacuum, the timing doesn't pass the smell test. Why start this partway through the season and not at the beginning? It ends up snuck into a busy news day for a ho-hum regular season game against the Kings; why not kick off the year with the announcement? Why not debut the patch on Christmas Day? Why now?
The answer may be that LeBron's sciatica injury to start the year that delayed his debut pushed back the date. Perhaps it's a new idea they just came up with. The idea is floating around, however, that the real reason is James and his family just made a decision that has not yet been shared with the world: that this season will be his last.
LeBron James could be playing his last season
If LeBron is not going to play another season, then it makes sense to put together something to commemorate this one. And if LeBron doesn't want to make it an official farewell tour, this allows for some celebration without the air of finality. When he does announce his retirement, these patches will be on hand to capture some of the magic and the value of owning a piece of his final year.
That brings things around to the Cavaliers. The dream had been that LeBron would finish out his contract with the Lakers this season, then sign on a small deal to play one last run with Cleveland next year. If he retires this season, that obviously cannot happen. A third time in The Land remains merely a wish-dream.
Perhaps this is a hedge from LeBron, giving him something if he does decide to hang things up, but still leaving the door open to one last run. Cavs fans will hope until that hope is formally extinguished. But if the rumors and whispers are right, the reunion may be off.
And The King may be reaching the end.