LeBron James gave Cleveland Cavaliers fans something they waited 46 years to experience. An NBA championship.
He also might have given them something considerably less enjoyable… Unreasonable expectations.
Think about it. Before LeBron arrived, Cavaliers fans would've celebrated an Eastern Conference Finals appearance like a championship parade was coming down Euclid Avenue.
Now? Cleveland can reach the conference finals, lose to a better team and have fans questioning whether the entire roster needs to be dismantled. That's quite a transformation.
I say this both jokingly and also seriously in the sense that it's always been the case that teams are judged based on the talent and gradual success they experience, to some degree. Except when it comes to Bron.
LeBron James made the impossible look normal
The Cavaliers reached four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 through 2018, winning the championship in 2016 after overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
Four straight Finals appearances. An unforgettable championship. And arguably the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. That's an extraordinary stretch for any franchise. But when you experience something extraordinary often enough, you start treating it like the standard. For Cleveland fans, June basketball became an expectation rather than a fantasy. And that's where the trouble began.
I'm starting to think people don't realize that LeBron is not normal, and the NBA doesn't work that way for most franchises.
For as much as people said it was the “Leastern Conference” while LeBron ran through it, let us take a moment to ponder how many teams have made it to the Finals just two years in a row, let alone four, in the Eastern Conference… None? Oh, ok.
Some organizations spend decades trying to reach one Conference Finals. Others assemble talented rosters, win 50-plus games and never get anywhere near a championship. The Cavaliers have experienced both sides of that equation.
Unfortunately, the LeBron years made the second scenario considerably harder to appreciate.
Cleveland's current success comes with an impossible comparison
Consider what the Cavaliers accomplished last season. They won 52 games, survived two seven-game playoff series and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
Without LeBron.
For a franchise once synonymous with lottery appearances whenever James wasn't wearing wine and gold, that's meaningful progress. But Cleveland's postseason ended with a sweep against the New York Knicks.
And suddenly, a season that would've been celebrated in another era felt like another missed opportunity. To be fair, fans have every right to expect more. The Cavaliers have invested heavily in Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Evan Mobley. This isn't a rebuilding team celebrating moral victories.
Cleveland has championship aspirations, and falling short deserves scrutiny.
But there's a difference between holding a contender accountable and treating everything short of an NBA Finals appearance like an embarrassment.
The Cavaliers don't need another LeBron James to be successful
Cleveland might never experience another player like LeBron. Most franchises won't. And while the organization has worked to establish its own identity, LeBron's legacy continues to loom over everything the Cavaliers accomplish without him.
Let's be for real, though.
Measuring every Cavaliers team against one of the greatest players in basketball history is a terrific way to guarantee disappointment. Mitchell doesn't have to become LeBron. Mobley doesn't have to become a Hall of Famer overnight. And Harden doesn't need to turn back the clock to 2018.
They need to give Cleveland a legitimate opportunity to compete for another championship.That doesn't mean lowering expectations, but it does mean recognizing just how difficult winning a title actually is.
The Cavaliers have built a contender without relying on the greatest player in franchise history. That's an achievement worth acknowledging, even if there's still work to do.
Of course, none of this will stop fans from demanding another championship.
And maybe that's the real legacy of LeBron James. He gave Cleveland a taste of basketball immortality.
Now, apparently, nothing else tastes quite as good.
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