The drama around Cleveland these days has reached daytime-soap-opera proportions. With the trade deadline looming later this week and the Cavs in desperate search of a solution to their various problems, the chatter surrounding all this has been relentless.
Although locker-room tensions have certainly flared in recent weeks, what’s more alarming is the pervading tension between LeBron James and upper management. Various reports have emerged recently that reveal an alleged pattern of front office execs dismissing and/or outright ignoring his preferences when it comes to personnel decisions.
The most high-profile of these obviously was the organization’s arguably premature acquiescence to Kyrie Irving’s trade demand despite LeBron’s insistence that he could repair that relationship if only Irving were forced to report to training camp last fall. However, a new report from Jason Lloyd of The Athletic diagrams a more overarching disconnect between the two parties threatening to unravel it all.
https://twitter.com/clevezirm/status/960976752188231680
When you look at the scale to which the organization has seemingly gone out of its way to undermine LeBron, it suddenly isn’t so crazy to think that Gilbert might actively be trying to push him out of town for the second time. It becomes difficult, otherwise, to reconcile his rationale.
And there’s plenty more in Lloyd’s piece worth parsing out. LeBron is apparently still reeling from former GM David Griffin’s firing, as the two had a close personal relationship and Griffin would regularly consult with LeBron about personnel decisions.
Conversely, LeBron reportedly has no relationship at all with his replacement, Koby Altman. All of this explains James’ refusal to speak on personnel matters, including his rebuttal of “I’m not a GM” recently when asked about the deadline. To say none of this bodes well for LeBron’s theoretical future with the franchise and by proxy the organization’s long-term outlook, would be a massive understatement.
Still, we’ll have to wait and see what happens at the deadline and how Cleveland manages to finish out the season before we can offer any definitive pronouncements. LeBron has said he won’t waive his no-trade clause before then, which is probably wise given that the Cavs in their current state might be much more willing to entertain such an otherwise crazy notion.
In the meantime, the drama just keeps on coming.
