LeBron James ventured back to South Beach in recent days in hopes of again becoming the man and the force he was once so marveled as and saluted for being.
Sidelined for nearly the last two weeks with back and knee strains, James recently returned to Miami to take advantage of the Florida sun thought to be most conducive to his rehab efforts. Now in his twelfth season and having just celebrated his 30th birthday, it all begs the question of if James could be seriously considering a return to the climate where he has experienced his most pleasure-filled moments.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ doctors advised The King not to attend any of the team’s games last week because “continuous sitting” on the bench would not be good for his ailments. On point as that prognosis might be, James’ greatest need would be seem to be for an ophthalmologist given the unbearable way his Cavs have looked during their dreadful 1-7 run without him.
Yes, it’s been that ugly, and the scene shows little signs of beautifying itself anytime soon.
“It’s difficult for sure, not being with the guys, and me being a team guy, and a camaraderie guy, it was difficult for sure,” James recently said of a season that has already seen him miss the most extended stretch of games of his career due to injury.
Aesthetically speaking, what’s surely been hardest to watch for the four-time champion and two-time league MVP would have to be the less than playoff-worthy manner in which his all-time favorite franchise has handled its business thus far this season. Heralded by many as the best squad money could buy coming into the year, the Cavs have stumbled mightily, going just 19-19 over roughly the first half of the year.
The even bigger and dimmer end result has been the proliferation of a suddenly desperate team, a squad frantically seeking to recreate itself on the fly by making such deals as shipping out Dion Waiters and bringing in the likes of J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov.
Such uncertain times have some seriously wondering if James may not be long for his boyhood town if he truly ever envisions a return to what he surely counts as his most defining moments. After encouraging fans early on to “relax” in the midst of yet another of the Cavs’ many stops and starts this season, even James’ patience has to now be growing thin, particularly given widespread rumors of locker room dissension including trouble between him and star point guard Kyrie Irving.
Try as he might to quell all the noise, after he and the Cavs were trampled by Dwyane Wade and the Heat in Miami on Christmas Day, James was captured on video telling his former running mate “like I said, if we aren’t better this year, we’re gonna reunite again and do some bigger and better things. You already know.”
Owner of an opt out cause in his contract as early as this summer, the prospect of having James back in a Miami uniform could even be enough to move Heat GM Pat Riley back to talking, not to mention sitting at the bargaining table. Reportedly, Riley hasn’t spoken to James since he announced he was bolting South Beach for Cleveland during the offseason, but if James was truthful in what he shared with his NBA best bud Riley’s tune be changing as quickly as the Heat’s fortunes have fallen since James announced he was taking his talents back to the banks of Lake Erie.
The point is the alliance shared by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers now appears to be fraying, easily casting the as two uneasy partners seemingly with fewer things than ever in common. The existence of that reality can ultimately make for even stranger bedfellows than even the thought of The King returning to the land of where he most solidified his reign.
