The LeBron James reunion talk in Cleveland keeps circling back to the same uncomfortable possibility: the Cavaliers may have a path to bringing him home, but the Golden State Warriors are still very much in the race.
A return to Cleveland has obvious appeal. James could wrap up his career where it began, and he’d be doing it with a team that just reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
That’s the cleanest version of the story. It’s the one Cavaliers fans have been dreaming about since his return in 2014.
But the rumor mill has not stayed in one lane. The Cavaliers have been mentioned alongside the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, and even the Minnesota Timberwolves in the James sweepstakes. Still, the Warriors have remained the most intriguing threat, and the most difficult one for Cleveland fans to stomach.
Part of that comes from the fit. James is friends with Draymond Green, and the idea of him heading a few hours north to the Bay Area to team up with Green and Steph Curry has real traction. It would keep LeBron in California and give him one more fresh challenge before he’s done.
Front Office Sports’ Alex Schiffer added more fuel to that idea, reporting that multiple Western Conference executives believe James is headed to Golden State.
REPORT: Multiple Western Conference execs expect LeBron James to sign with the Warriors, per @Alex__Schiffer pic.twitter.com/IHo7KGRegF
The Warriors angle is hard to ignore because of what it would mean for the Cavaliers. James spent four straight Finals battles facing Golden State, and that rivalry defined an era. The Warriors were the team he beat to deliver Cleveland its first NBA title, and those series were fierce enough to leave a lasting mark.
At the same time, the landscape is different now. Cleveland just marked the 10th anniversary of that 2016 championship, and the roster around the Cavs is not the same one from those years. Golden State, too, is no longer sitting at the top of the league the way it did from 2015 to 2018.
So the players from those Finals have moved on. The fans, though, have not.
That’s why the possibility of James in a Warriors uniform still lands like a gut punch in Cleveland. Golden State already took three of four Finals meetings from the Cavaliers, and landing LeBron would be another brutal twist in a rivalry that has already produced plenty of them.
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