LeBron's most meaningful title is in the past
Monday 2 July 2018 16:39, UK
Flames engulfed the famous No 23, LeBron James' Cleveland jersey being reduced to ruin, the curse still not lifted. That was then, writes James Dielhenn, but LeBron's second departure from his home team has been altogether different.
One of sport's most heroic homecomings has ended - LeBron, in his second stint with the Cavaliers, delivered one NBA championship that should count for more than just the single ring he has to show for it. He is likely to add another in Los Angeles, perhaps several, but will they be as valuable?
LeBron is, at worst, the second-best basketball player ever (that's an argument for another time) but he is also "just a kid from Akron", the fifth-largest city in Ohio with a population of less than 200,000 where he first met Savannah, another kid from Akron, his childhood sweetheart and now his wife. Yes, their wedding supposedly featured a serenade from Jay-Z and Beyonce but LeBron is essentially a small town guy, happy at home, genuinely motivated by bringing success to the area in which he grew up.
Now he is in LA, but it is difficult to imagine him being papped on Sunset Boulevard after years of model behaviour where his personal life has never been on the front pages, and he has never stumbled out of a nightclub. LeBron in Los Angeles is not a natural fit.
The challenge is to avoid becoming a travelling circus dressed in the NBA's most famous colours.
This move, and the final years of his career, are geared towards adding to his three championships and addressing the exhausting comparisons with Michael Jordan who won six rings with the Chicago Bulls in the 90s. But LeBron, now based in the glitz and chutzpah of America's most fabulous city, could overtake Jordan's sixth title with his new team but would never win a ring that means as much as the joy he brought to Cleveland.
"My relationship with northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball," he told Sports Illustrated in 2014 upon returning to the Cavaliers, having won his first two NBA titles with Miami Heat.
"I didn't realise that four years ago. I do now. When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn't had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what's most important for me is bringing one trophy back to northeast Ohio."
LeBron's jersey was burnt by angry fans after The Decision eight years ago, an ill-advised TV segment where he flaunted his exit from the Cavaliers and headed to Miami. That remains his most high-profile mistake and exactly the type of thing LeBron must avoid in Los Angeles, where there are more cameras and wacky ideas than anywhere else.
In LA he steps into the shadows of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, legends of the game who dealt with the city's inherent expectation to each win NBA titles. Ghosts of the past haunt LeBron wherever he goes, but more so in the west.
The voice hollering from the sidelines loudest will be LaVar Ball, Lonzo's dad, whose chest can no longer be puffed out so prominently when LeBron walks into the room. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, an LA resident for all of five minutes, has already tweeted the latest big incoming to the city.
Lance Stephenson, The Joker to LeBron's Batman, is a rumoured arrival in the same locker room which would create a spectacular alliance, whether it works or not. Their most recent dalliances caused some of social media's finest memes.
It is difficult to know how confrontational LeBron really is - rumours about backstage fall-outs linger but perhaps the on-court results justify the means. In LA there are more egos, more opinions, more voices.
Arguably, that's what LeBron needs. Aged 33 he cannot maintain his current authority as sport's ultimate one-man team. He will need someone to do some running for him, and the Cavs team-mates he leaves behind were unsuited to that challenge.
JR Smith referred to being a team-mate of LeBron's as "a gift and a curse" and it does appear to possess the same credit as doing backing vocals for Michael Jackson.
"We're in the NBA finals. How much more picking up teammates you want me to do?" Lebron snapped to a reporter during the recent defeat to Golden State Warriors, when asked about Smith.
He did carry the Cavaliers, a situation that couldn't continue and enforced his decision to become a free agent before signing a four-year deal worth $154m (£117m) with the Lakers.
But surely the most meaningful period of LeBron's career is now in the past. The city of Cleveland, cursed, had not won a major title in 147 seasons spanning 52 years of basketball, American football and baseball until the brilliant LeBron delivered the 2016 NBA championship, the Cavaliers' first.
That might have been duplicated had the Warriors not built their own dynasty. LeBron now shares a state with them. Eight consecutive finals appearances is remarkable but LeBron's overall 3-6 record is three titles short of Jordan. It is worth remembering Jordan did not replicate Bill Russell's 11 (the most ever) but it is universally accepted that raw statistics do not tell the whole story.
The same logic should be applied to LeBron's achievements as his pursuit of silverware heads west. There is more, presumably, than basketball to this decision - in LA there are avenues to a post-ball career, coupled with the Lakers' status. It would have been fascinating to see LeBron join the Philadelphia 76ers - humbler, closer to home, no titles since 1983 but a young and talented roster.
Everything has always been about LeBron no matter which team is graced by his presence, but with his body clock tick-tocking and three titles to win before he gains parity with Jordan, the movie scriptwriters in LA are licking their lips. This chapter of the great man's career must not be allowed to peter out into a one-man show absent of feeling and passion.
There is no place like home.
