LeBron James isn’t concerned where the Cleveland Cavaliers sit in the draft next summer. The Cavaliers have control of the Brooklyn Nets’ unprotected pick, a highly-coveted asset it acquired in the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston for a package that also included Isaiah Thomas.
Now, you can be cynical about it and say that James isn’t worried about the pick because he might not be coming back to the team next fall. But if you ask James, it’s because the Nets might not be as bad as everyone assumed they might be.
Brooklyn beat the Cavaliers on Wednesday, prompting Tyronn Lue to quip that Brooklyn might want the Cavaliers’ pick for themselves. And James himself said the pick might not be what Cleveland hoped it would.
He told Cleveland.com that he’s not worried about where the Nets end up, because they might be better than a lot of people thought.
“It might not even be that good of a pick,” James said after the game.
And he might be right. Brooklyn has had a surprising start to the season and D’Angelo Russell, when healthy, has been a good boost for the team. Not even a LeBron triple-double could get Cleveland a win over the Nets on Wednesday. It is early, however, and so it’s difficult to know exactly what any of these games mean in the long-term.
Which is another reason why LeBron says he’s not concerned about where Brooklyn is in the standings.
James said “I don’t look at it at all right now” when asked if he followed the Nets’ record because of the pick, because “it’s too early in the season.”
“When it gets closer I’ll probably look,” James said.
James will probably be checking a lot less often than the guy who bought a “Nets Pick” Cavs jersey. That’s an investment that might not hold up as well as he hoped.
