PUSKAS Trade LeBron? Nope
The Golden State Warriors weren’t even finished celebrating not blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals when the LeBron James-wants-out-of-Cleveland talk started up again.
For about eight seconds, the hot topic was having to wait a year or so for a fourth straight NBA Finals matchup between the Cavaliers and the Warriors.
Then came the stories about how James was likely to end up in Los Angeles — with either the Clippers or the Lakers — after next season.
The announcement that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and general manager David Griffin had agreed to part ways fed the fire. That breakup came right in the middle of Griffin reportedly shopping forward Kevin Love in an attempt to acquire Paul George or Jimmy Butler.
Never mind that another entire offseason and a new regular season and playoffs await before the issue of James’ next contract is likely to even begin to be addressed. That doesn’t seem to matter outside Cleveland. The rest of the country seems to be rooting for the Cavaliers’ marriage to LeBron to disintegrate — again.
It got so bad that there was even talk about the notion of trading James now — before the start of the 2017-18 season — so Gilbert and the Cavaliers can get something of value for their superstar.
Superstar? That doesn’t even do LeBron justice.
Forget that Golden State beat Cleveland in the NBA Finals. LeBron is still the best player in the league, on the planet and anywhere else you want to have the debate.
Think about it: The Warriors lured Kevin Durant to Oakland solely to tip the balance in the NBA Finals in their favor. They had to add Durant to a team that already had Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the best supporting cast of role players in the NBA just to be able to beat James.
They did it, but LeBron became the first player in history to average a triple-double in the NBA Finals.
So now the Cavaliers should trade him because another “Decision” might be coming?
Gilbert can’t do that. The Cavs will never get equal value in any trade and when he’s gone, they’ll have a hard time attracting fans to Quicken Loans Arena to watch his replacement, even if Love and Kyrie Irving are still here.
James means that much to the franchise and more.
What they need to go is tweak this roster to better be able to match up against the Warriors and then hope for the best beyond the 2017-18 season.
It’s not ideal, but it’s the down side of LeBron’s Return to Cleveland. There was always the possibility that he might not finish his career with the Cavaliers, especially if he made good on his goal to bring a title to northeastern Ohio.
Gilbert had to know that. But he also has to know that trading James is a bad idea — worse even than the Comic Sans letter.
Gilbert is in a bad spot. His most realistic option is to wait and hope, just like everyone else.
Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.