If LeBron James revealed last spring that he would not sign with the Lakers, a return to Cleveland was seen by many as the perfect end to his long career. His decision to join the Sixers instead came as a surprise, and he turned to that choice Thursday night after his new team overcame a 29-point deficit to win Cavaliers in philadelphia Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in history only for subscribers.
Fedor notes that James’ agent, Rich Pavel of Klutch Sports, confirmed that the Cavs were the only team James met with in 25 days on the free agent market in July. They sent a contingent consisting of the president of basketball operations to James’ house Coby Altmanvice president of business operations Grant Gilbert and now CEO Brandon WeemsJames’ childhood friend to discuss what it would take to get him back to Cleveland.
“I probably won’t speculate much on the nature of the meeting, but there was definitely consideration.” James told reporters after Thursday’s game. “I mean, this is a team that’s trying to build itself in the direction of championships and things like that. I was trying to decide where I wanted to go with the rest of my career, finish my career or whatever, the next step, and there was a lot of thinking for sure.”
Cleveland and Philadelphia were finalists in James’ final decision, along with Minnesota, Miami and Golden State. Fedor reveals several members of the Cavaliers organization believed James was leaning toward returning home, including Donovan Mitchellwho was involved in recruiting.
Mitchell admitted at media day that he was surprised James chose Philadelphia, saying he thought the Warriors would be the choice if he didn’t become a Cavalier again.
James mentioned Cleveland in a Post on Twitter announcing his decision by writing, “Northeast Ohio will always (be) home!”
After losing James, the Cavs changed their strategy in the offseason, bringing in Mario Hezonha returning to the NBA after six years in the Euroleague and trading for Peyton Watson to fill the hole at small forward.
Pre-game press conference on Thursday, coach Kenny Atkinson discussed the ups and downs of pursuing James.
“You’re waiting. You’re excited. You’re waiting for something to happen, but it doesn’t, and for the first day or two, you’re just depressed, to be honest.” he said. “It’s the emotion of it. I loved how quickly we shifted gears and the push to get Peyton to stay and everything we had to do to do it. It was a tough maneuver. Dan Gilbert and Kobe, they’re aggressive. They don’t hold back. We’re taking chances. We’re swinging. It was a great transition to what was a big hit for us early on.”