A future without LeBron James is the right call for the Cleveland Cavaliers

It appears the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t want a LeBron James future after all.

As a pro wrestling/combat sports fan, the term “card subject to change” is drilled into your head. While there’s no combat card here to look over, the idea here is the same; this may change as time goes on but for right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not looking at bringing back LeBron James in 2023 when he becomes a free agent.

That is absolutely the right move. James isn’t the kind of player you can integrate into a team and not cause massive disruptions in everything you do. Maybe eight years ago, when he was just hitting 30, you’d take the risk, but the man is nearly 40, and building a team around him is risky.

He’s been banged up a lot more now than ever before, and that’s mostly due to his age. It happens. Yet, when you’re talking about the money it takes to land a guy like James, plus the control he’d more than likely want, there’s just no reason to go down that road with the guy. Not anymore.

Word is that LeBron James doesn’t want to move his family from Los Angeles

According to Joe Varden of The Atheltic (via NBC Sports), the Cavs aren’t interested in James. Whether that’s due to them not viewing him as the best fit, or because they don’t think he’s leaving LA is anyone’s guess, but Varden went on to give his thoughts;

"The Cavs are not proceeding with the intention of getting LeBron for a third time… I think family weighs too heavily into this, and the easiest move for him is to stay with the Lakers."

James also has a production company in Los Angeles as well, not to mention his desire to do more acting and show appearances. This has actually been a subject of contempt for some in the valley, where many fans accused James of caring too much about his The Shop talk show, which he was actively filming while the Lakers were busy missing the playoffs.

So it seems that James is very focused on growing that portion of his legacy post-basketball, and it may be hard to do all the way back in Cleveland, so it doesn’t seem likely that James would give up both his budding businesses and uproot his family for a season or two.

James staying with the Lakers and the Cavs moving on to focusing on a LeBron-less future is the best move for both parties.