Stephen A. Smith: "James back to Cavs better than 50% chance"

[Fafnir]

Maybe Lebron can buy the Cavs after his playing days and prove he can be a better owner than Michael Jordan.

Not a high bar.

It's a higher bar than "not the worst owner in Cavs history".

True even Jordan doesn't have a rule named after him that impacts the league on a daily basis soley to save him from himself.

Man that guy was terrible.

[Donoghus]

Maybe Lebron can buy the Cavs after his playing days and prove he can be a better owner than Michael Jordan.

Not a high bar.

It's a higher bar than "not the worst owner in Cavs history".

True even Jordan doesn't have a rule named after him that impacts the league on a daily basis soley to save him from himself.

Man that guy was terrible.

Stepien could've easily cost the Celtics a title or two with trading the pick to the Lakers which led to Worthy.

[LooseCannon]

Maybe Lebron can buy the Cavs after his playing days and prove he can be a better owner than Michael Jordan.

Not a high bar.

It's a higher bar than "not the worst owner in Cavs history".

True even Jordan doesn't have a rule named after him that impacts the league on a daily basis soley to save him from himself.

Man that guy was terrible.

Stepien could've easily cost the Celtics a title or two with trading the pick to the Lakers which led to Worthy.

Red may have cost the Celtics a title or two by not figuring out a way to do a trade with Stepien.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

meh

[D.o.s.]

If the Heat win the title this year, I can't imagine Lebron leaves.  I think he'd want to win four titles in a row, something that neither Jordan or Kobe pulled off.

I think Cleveland would be a good team for him, and I think the redemption story could be personally rewarding.  However, a four-peat, with the opportunity to then leave via free agency if he so desired, would probably be too much to pass up.

Yep.  Why I think he just opts in for 2 more years, makes a lot of money, and then goes back to Cleveland in the summer of 2016 on a pretty reasonable deal (in part as a mea culpa for leaving).

I think LeBron will get one more massive deal (four years or so), then and only then will he think about going back to Cleveland. As far as his personal legacy goes, Miami gives him a much better shot at winning rings than Cleveland does, especially in regards to the management, the ownership, and the coaching.

The Heat definitely have to lose in the playoffs before he seriously considers leaving.

Lebron took a lot less money to sign in Miami (somewhere around 3 million a year less), I just don't see him as going the Kobe/Melo/KG/Shaq route and hamstringing whatever team he signs for.  He will certainly get paid, but he won't max that crap out, which is why I think he just opts in, plays out the next two at 20.6 and 22 and then re-evaluates the Heat and Cavs in the summer of 2016.  Maybe by then Miami has made the moves required to keep it in contention for through the 2010's (and he re-ups) or maybe he just decides to go back home and finish out his career with whatever the Cavs can put around him (whether in contention or not).  Of course that might all change if the Heat are sitting on 5 in a row or if Wade or Bosh leave this summer.

If you think Wade is going to willingly leave Miami, you might not be thinking clearly.

I would wager any amount of money that Wade's going to spend his entire career in South Beach, get his number retired, do the Dirk/Kobe thing.

[Onslaught]

Let's see, he can go back to an organization that never got a good enough team to win it all in a dump of a city or he can stay with a team that has got him 2 if not 3 rings and has one of the greatest basketball minds of all time running it in Pat Riley. And it's in a city that can help pull in the kinds of players that will help win him more.

[LooseCannon]

Wasn't the rumor that James went to Miami because Bosh didn't want to go to Cleveland?  Maybe the chances of Lebron going back to Cleveland will depend partly on him being able to persuade someone (not Bosh or Wade) to go with him.

[pokeKingCurtis]

[D.o.s.]

Wasn't the rumor that James went to Miami because Bosh didn't want to go to Cleveland?  Maybe the chances of Lebron going back to Cleveland will depend partly on him being able to persuade someone (not Bosh or Wade) to go with him.

I believe Cleveland wouldn't have been able to sign Wade, Bosh, and LeBron:

[Fafnir]

The screen shot shows they couldn't sign all three, they had significant contracts on the books other than LeBron. Unlike Miami where it was Wade and not a lot else.

[Moranis]

The screen shot shows they couldn't sign all three, they had significant contracts on the books other than LeBron. Unlike Miami where it was Wade and not a lot else.

Cleveland and Toronto had a trade worked out for Bosh, but Bosh just would not go to Cleveland.  Had Bosh gone to Cleveland, him and James would still be there and Wade might have gone back home to Chicago and the entire NBA landscape the last 3 years would look a heck of a lot different.

[chambers]

He's coming to Boston to play with Rondo and Embid.

[D.o.s.]

The screen shot shows they couldn't sign all three, they had significant contracts on the books other than LeBron. Unlike Miami where it was Wade and not a lot else.

Yeah that's a typo, should've been "wouldn't have"