While this is still a possibility, the structure of that very sentence emitted a sense of closure—that James was not only returning to win a championship for Cleveland, but that he was there to stay. It was the ultimate feel-good sports story: star player returning home to make up for past transgressions with the goal of winning a championship. Big difference I see is Baker has bigger arm, but Smith has better head. In fact, there were not any words from James at all. With Irving in Boston and Thomas unable to play until January, the Cavs turned to Derrick Rose in the hopes of the former MVP rebounding from a subpar season in New York. Irving reportedly sought someone with whom to discuss his unhappiness, but it was not be until a mid-summer meeting with Dan Gilbert that his trade demands became publicly known. One of the most popular Cleveland Cavaliers conspiracy question marks will forever be what happened to LeBron James in 2010 in the series with the Celtics. Andrew Clayman (@ClaymanWFNY) Move over Delonte West and forget about alleged trades involving the Suns and J.J. Hickson, the one we’ll probably talk about forever is LeBron James, the Celtics, his elbow and all the “body language” diagnosis that can ever be fathomed. A year after winning the 2016 title, then-Cavaliers general manager David Griffin attempted to procure Paul George from the Indiana Pacers in a deal that would have sent Kevin Love to the Denver Nuggets. Tim O'Connor (@TimROConnor) He took them to four straight finals and managed to win one championship in 2016. Ticket punched: Ohio State selected as No. Would keeping Griff around have provided Irving with someone to use as a sounding board, someone to calm the waters before the waves grew too high? Several fans were excited that LeBron would be going to the Heat along with Chris Bosh to form a super-trio with Dwyane Wade. If he made any mistake in its creation, it was in saying, "I always believed that I'd return to Cleveland and finish my career there."

Midday Sunday, less than a year after the All-Star point guard forced his way to a storied franchise in Boston, James announced his decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers. Dan Parker (@DP_Cannon) Joe Gilbert (@JoeGilbertWFNY)

He put up numbers, but people thought he looked disengaged. According to recent reports from ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski, Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne, the Cavaliers would have been willing to include a first-round draft pick in the deal, had James been willing to commit to playing in Cleveland beyond 2017-18. We could never get past Boston. Irving's surprising midsummer trade demands in 2017 were rife with issues surrounding the shadow cast by LeBron James. Unheard of as Rose's sabbatical was, it is now but a footnote in the Cavaliers' 2017-18 season—one that Kevin Love eventually referred to as "four or five seasons" wrapped up into one. Instead of jerseys being engulfed in flames, the next step is to hang James' No. James' friend, Steph Floss, is the Cavaliers' in-arena DJ. Look, we won Game 3, took back home-court advantage, and went home for Game 5.

He could arguably keep competing for titles more easily in Cleveland than in L.A., considering the Western Conference is stacked and his teammates will be young and inexperienced. Jim Pete (@JimPeteEHC) Naturally, the fans’ love turned into hate when James joined the Heat, which felt like a betrayal to them. Joe Gerberry (@TheGerbsWFNY), Podcast Hosts: Thus, that is when the announcement came from LeBron that he would be taking his talents to south beach and join the. We never recovered. If there's anything from that essay to fall back on, however, it is this line: "What's most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.".

But that series, in 2010, I don’t know if it was an injury. Michael Bode (@mgbode_WFNY)