The Most Dangerous LeBron James Is a Happy LeBron James
LeBron James can salvage anything, or at least that’s what it looks like from afar. In the run-up to the trade deadline, the Cavs were a broken, moribund team plagued by injuries and infighting. But while Cleveland may have been a sub-.500 team over their last 20 games, it wasn’t hard to imagine LeBron—as he’s done so many times over the course of his career—dragging them all the way to the Finals.
That doesn’t mean, though, that LeBron wanted to salvage the Cavaliers. While it remains unclear whether James was consulted about Cleveland’s furious firesale, or even given a heads-up, the moves didn’t just make the Cavs younger, more athletic, and more versatile. This was addition by subtraction in both a basketball sense and an interpersonal one. Cleveland wasn’t just dysfunctional on the court; their locker room situation had grown toxic and convoluted. Even for LeBron James, sports is a workplace. While he shows up every day and performs at a superhuman level, this doesn’t mean he’s always feeling it.
Since the trade, the Cavaliers have played the East-leading Celtics and the star-laden Thunder on the road. They’ve won both games handily, getting strong contributions from new players George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance, Jr., and Rodney Hood. In one of the most bizarre plot twists of their year, J.R. Smith has reconnected with his wild side and reemerged as a dynamic factor on the floor. But what really stands out is LeBron’s performance—not so much what he’s done but how he’s done it. James had put up monster numbers all season and, per usual, engineered much of the Cavs’ offense on the fly. Nothing was working in Cleveland except LeBron was there, so he made it work.
These are the expectations we place on greatness: that because they can transform a disastrous roster into a half-baked contender, that should be enough for them. Especially for LeBron, who historically has been blamed for too much and credited with too little, the assumption is that they’ll deliver no matter what the circumstances around them and the gnarlier these are, the more of an onus it places on them to overcome them. This is the perverse logic of “the challenge” in sports, where athletes who thrive on competition and goal-oriented thinking are ungrateful or insufficient if they can’t make the most of what they’re given. It diminishes the idea of LeBron James to suggest that, instead of saving others, he may be the one who needs to be saved.
That’s not to say LeBron wasn’t doing enough before or that the revamped Cavs require less energy or effort on his part. But he’s looked like a different player in these last two games. He’s both looser and more economical, striking confidently instead of roiling in survival mode. James is as resourceful and surprising as ever, but instead of being expected to conjure up every possession out of thin air, he’s taking a certain level of competence, of structural soundness, as a given and going from there. The most terrifying weapon in the sport has been freed up to do what he wants to do as opposed to determine what, if any, viable options might present themselves. There’s a flow to the Cavs and James is riding high on it.
It’s safe to say that Cleveland acquired talent better suited to playing with 2017-18 LeBron. And with the wreckage of their previous roster now a distant memory, it’s hard to fathom that he was ever expected to go at the Warriors with that team. LeBron’s transformation, though, seems to be as much about emotion as technical or strategic tweaks. We may not want to allow LeBron the luxury of unhappiness but in retrospect, it’s pretty clear that he was unhappy, or at least uninspired. Reuniting with his good friend Dwyane Wade was a nice touch but Wade wasn’t exactly buoying LeBron like he had in Miami. Professional sports is a workplace, and even the great ones are susceptible to ups and downs in morale. Sometimes LeBron James just isn’t feeling it. That doesn’t mean he’s slack or negligent, only that he’s human.
Admittedly, two games is a puny sample size. The Cavs are barely coming into focus. Teams may figure them out with additional scouting. There’s also the chance that they evolve in ways that require, or allow for, yet another version of LeBron James. What’s undeniable is that we’re seeing what happens when a front office does its job and properly supports its franchise player instead of expecting them to clean up their mess or reconcile a roster’s flaws. We’ve seen the same thing unfold in Houston, where building an entire system around James Harden’s proclivities has yielded massive returns. It’s not just about making things easier for superstars or making them comfortable. To tap into the full potential of a James or Harden, teams need them feeling good. They need them to enjoy themselves every time they step onto the court.
No discussion of LeBron James is complete without some idle speculation around his offseason plans. But even if, as some have suggested, Dan Gilbert is trying to position the Cavs for Life After LeBron, this latest turn of events opens up a new, intriguing possibility. So far, every discussion of James’s future has focused on dethroning the Warriors. What, if any, situation would give him a shot at taking down a putative dynasty? James, so the thinking went, wouldn’t just want this to govern his decision. He didn’t really have any other choice. If James isn’t playing for RINGZ then why doesn’t—as I once half-jokingly suggested on Twitter—he hang it up and move onto the next phase of his career?
We’re currently seeing a truly revitalized LeBron James in action. Would he be inclined to play out his career somewhere that keeps him in that zone as opposed to grimly conscripting him into whatever team can load up with the most talent? Instead of being driven by duty, maybe James will let quality of life light the way. He has built a career by subverting conventional narratives—of doing what he wants to do rather than what he's supposed to. Maybe at this crucial juncture, he will decide that his final act will be spent playing for the love of it. And if he goes that route, who knows how far he can take a team? After all, a happy LeBron is an even more dangerous LeBron.
