It sounds like the Cavaliers don’t want LeBron James back

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not pushing for a LeBron James return apparently.

LeBron James made it clear that he hasn’t “closed” the door on returning to Cleveland. The former Cleveland Cavaliers great was interviewed by Jason Lloyd of the Athletic at the All-Star Game, and he made it clear he didn’t know what his future held, just that he wasn’t saying no to anything at the moment.

He told Lloyd that he doesn’t know what his future holds, but he does want to play with his son Bronny James, who as of the late winter of 2022 is a borderline NBA prospect at best.

So the only way the Cavs get LeBron James is if they go out and get Bronny James. The biggest issue with getting the elder James is the fact that he has had a history of demanding teams cater to his wants, and not what is necessarily best for the franchise.

Case in point, the Lakers. How much better would they be if they had Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram right now instead of Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook? A lot.

The Cavaliers are also aware of this, apparently and according to Marc Stein, they don’t seem to be very interested in the former NBA Champion.

Stein spoke on his podcast about the possibility, and he’s pretty adamant that the people he talked to aren’t looking at James as a possible option.

"In conversations that I’ve had with people in Cleveland, I think it’s just assumed that the Cavs would jump at the chance to get LeBron back, and I really don’t think that’s the case."

The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to want to prove they don’t need LeBron James

According to Stein, he believes the Cavs don’t want James back in part to prove that they can win without him.

"“But as of now, this far out, I don’t think the Cavs would want to bring LeBron back. Look, he’s left them twice and management there has had to hear it thrown in their face for ages — the Cavs haven’t made the playoffs without LeBron since 1998, this franchise has never done anything without LeBron. Well they’ve done something now….When you had LeBron James in there, he overrode everything and everyone kind of had to do it his way. I don’t know that Dan Gilbert is ready to go back to that kind of life. And only Dan Gilbert and Koby Altman have the answer there.”"

He’s right about James. He’s easily one of the 10 best players in the NBA, and while his professional choices and attitudes can be reprehensible (I see you China, even if he doesn’t), he’s still done a lot of good. Or at least has tried.

Yet, as a pro, he has wrecked more teams than anyone else in the history of the NBA. Not even James Dolan can destroy a team faster than James. So there are real, honest reasons to not want to get back with James.

He’s a legend and should go down as the greatest Cavalier of All-Time (unless someone steps up in the future), but as far as his time in Cleveland goes; it should be over. He’s done his work, he’s made his legacy and now it’s time to prove that this team is bigger than one player.