Never in LeBron’s wildest dreams could he have imagined that the Warriors would go from 67 wins to a record-breaking 73-wins, to adding Kevin Durant. None of that mattered, LeBron James still delivered and at age 32, flanked with a roster suited for his prodigious talents coupled with a fully arrived superstar in Kyrie Irving, seemed destined to reel of a decade of utter dominance. No team in NBA history had gone up against a 73-9, no team in NBA history had come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals, and no team in over 30 years had won a Game 7 on road in the NBA Finals. Come home and win a title – and he delivered in the most awe-inspiring of ways. This had been the master plan for LeBron all along. He wanted control of a franchise, wanted control of his story, and, yes, he wanted to come home again. The owner, the GM, the coach – it didn’t matter: LeBron James didn’t return for them. According to Yahoo Sports, over five years ago, owner Dan Gilbert started to wonder to his staff: If James wants to return, we have to bring him back, right? The staff told him, yes, of course, but the question was rhetorical. The Cavaliers gambled everything and waited on James to leave Miami. Privately, front-office executives wondered: If James doesn’t come back – and we made these moves for nothing – will we be laughed out of our jobs? Out of the league? Prior to the summer of 2014, the Cavaliers traded away draft picks to clear salary-cap space without so much as a promise that James would make his return. This was the ultimate legacy ploy for LeBron. However, LeBron now he has a chance to render all criticism mute and snatch the GOAT title once in for all, not by stacking up championships but by winning the most significant championship in NBA history – perhaps sports history.Īfter the Spurs dismantled the Heat in 2014, James realized: 1) he had a very slim chance of matching or eclipsing Jordan’s six titles and 2) the only way to best Jordan is to write his own story – the prodigal son returning home to end the greatest championship drought in modern American sports history and introduce an era of Cleveland dominance by mentoring a young star in Kyrie Irving and eventually turning over the keys to the kingdom to him. The thing that separates the two in the eye of fans and media is the championship count. LeBron is bigger, stronger, faster, more versatile, and more of team player than Jordan ever was. In terms of talent, body of work, and statistical measures, LeBron is right at the top with Jordan.
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