LeBron James’ legacy. NBA fans have heard and read these three words far too many times since the moment that the star forward proclaimed that he was “taking [his] talents to South Beach” nearly six years ago. I would normally stay away from this endless legacy talk, but some recent comments made by former NBA guard Antonio Daniels really intrigued me. Here’s what Daniels had to say, regarding James:
“I would hate to be in a locker room with a guy who has one foot out the door already, but is constantly talking about leadership and is constantly talking about the process of becoming a championship-caliber team. A guy who’s constantly talking about, ‘You know, we have to understand the magnitude of the situation that’s here now with the team that we have put together, we have the opportunity to do something special’. ‘Cause in the back of my mind, I’m thinking… What a hypocrite! You’re speaking about one thing, but your actions say something completely different.”
LeBron James’ Legacy and Cleveland’s Title Hopes
Let’s be clear here, before delving into the implications of these comments: James hasn’t concretely proven to have “one foot out the door already”. He unfollowed the Cavaliers on Twitter recently, and he said some nonsense about forming another super team with his buddies Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade. But James hasn’t outright done or said anything to show that he’s on his way out. Regardless, that’s not the problem here. There are more troubling parts of Daniels’ comments, when it comes to James’ legacy.
Think about the whole Kobe vs. LeBron argument. What do people claim that favors James? They say that he’s a great teammate, and any NBA player would love to play with him. It’s proven to be true; James won the Players Award, voted by all NBA players, of “Player You Secretly Wish Was On Your Team” last summer (although it’s not much of a secret). Countless role players left their teams to join James in Miami, and many others have done the same now that he’s back in Cleveland. But with Bryant, several of his teammates hated him throughout his career. People called him selfish, he and Shaquille O’Neal infamously feuded because of their egos, and many players wanted nothing to do with Kobe. Stories have surfaced of just how bad a teammate Bryant was, at least according to some players.
So where do Daniels’ comments leave James? Here, we finally see a former player who says he’d never want to play with James. And Daniels has a point. As great a facilitator and as unselfish a player as James is on the court, his off-court behavior has been concerning for the Cavaliers, to the point where his head coach and general manager had to privately talk to him about it. Sure, James can go ahead and mock the media for making such a big deal out of everything he does. But at the end of the day, everyone knows that James has done major damage to his team off the court, including him being the main reason that Cleveland’s former head coach David Blatt was fired. That’s not working out very well for the Cavs; they were 30-11 under Blatt, but are just 22-10 under James’ new pawn, Tyronn Lue. Ever since James returned to Cleveland, the move has seemed to be more and more about him and his agency, Klutch Sports, controlling the team, and less about winning a championship for his hometown. James couldn’t just do whatever he wanted when he was in Miami, since team president Pat Riley would never allow it. But he has all the leverage now in Cleveland, where James can cycle through one year contracts and constantly maintain the threat of leaving.
Maybe that power hungry mindset isn’t so bad for the team. After all, the Cavs made the NBA Finals last year, and are the favorites to do so again, with a likely first place regular season finish in the Eastern Conference. James has forced Cleveland’s front office to spend, and they’ve done that to the fullest extent, with one of the highest payrolls in league history. But on the other hand, the Cavaliers have major concerns with which James hasn’t helped. They just don’t pass the eye test. Their body language looks bad and players have been openly sulking; they simply don’t seem to enjoy playing together. They’ve had downright terrible losses, including one to the atrocious Brooklyn Nets, a blowout in Miami, and an awful performance at home against the depleted Memphis Grizzlies.
Sure, you can dismiss the previous paragraph as nitpicking, and you wouldn’t be wrong; the Cavs have still shown signs of being a championship caliber team, including resounding road victories over the Thunder and Clippers. We all might be reading too much into everything when it comes to LeBron and the Cavaliers, as James said himself. But it’s clear that not everything is right in Cleveland; it’s been that way since LeBron commenced the new era in his old home with his famous chalk toss before last year’s season opener. Perhaps the Cavs’ talent will prevail despite the concerns, and James will make his sixth consecutive NBA Finals appearance. But even if that happens, one has to ask: can a team with this many issues take down the historically great Golden State Warriors, or even the slightly worse San Antonio Spurs? Only time will tell.
The bottom line is that if James’ odd behavior is indeed damaging his team’s championship aspirations, then he is undoubtedly damaging his legacy as well.
