This is dumb.
This is really dumb.
Is this real?
It’s still dumb.
On Wednesday, with the eyes of the nation staring down college football bowls and the same suit they’ve worn to New Year’s Eve parties for the last seven years, a Reddit user splashed online to claim that LeBron James was telling Dwyane Wade on Christmas day that James would be well on his way to Miami should the Cleveland Cavaliers fail to make something meaningful happen this year.
Watch, and turn up your speakers (and turn down your own personal brand of throbbing cynicism):
The Reddit user claims that James said "Like I said, if we aren't better this year, we're gonna re-unite again and do some bigger and better things, alright?" Others have parsed it out to "listen, we've done it before. We're gonna re-unite again and do some better things, alright?"
Now that your eyes have stopped rolling, let’s settle down a bit.
Even if the quoted variations are true, this could mean absolutely anything. This could be a discussion about a relationship – it’s not uncommon for displaced friends to promise future meetings while warming themselves in the light of the figurative Christmas fire – or some sort of post-playing career transitional partnership.
If you think this has something to do with LeBron James promising Dwyane Wade that he’ll be back in Miami once he opts out of his contract this summer, you’re taking a rather large bite.
If James fled Ohio once again this summer after his massive and much-adored love letter to the state, Cavs fans wouldn’t just burn his jerseys. They’d burn Florida. Militias would be created, and huge gobs of Gold Star Chili (they wouldn’t waste the good stuff) would be thrown at the whole of South Beach.
LeBron James has been pretty tone deaf before, as we saw during his 2010 decision, but the underlying theme in both his 2010 and 2014 choice was secrecy. Nobody had the scoop before LeBron James announced it, and as sound as his friendship with Dwyane Wade might be, the dude is not going to hint at 2015 free agency plans with all manner of microphones and cameras milling about in the NBA’s most-watched game of its season so far.
James was correct, in his post-game press conference, to point out the double standard that fans and media use when it comes to judging players and teams making transaction decisions. The Cavs are in real trouble this year of just being a pretty good team, Dwyane Wade is currently having an All-Star-worthy bounce-back year, and old habits die hard. Not only does James have a player option for next year, but so does Wade – and James’ ostensible Miami replacement in Luol Deng.
Would the entire lot of them opt out to take less money to play in Miami? If you’ll recall, the only reason James, Wade, Deng and Kevin Love (who has yet to sign a contract extension) are working with these flexible contracts is to ensure their ability to eventually make as much money as possible under NBA salary bylaws. With that in place, it’s still possible that …
… wait. Stop. Seriously.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both probably own cell phones, and the ability to text each other without anyone hearing anything. James isn’t going to drop something like this with the klieg lights on and the cameras rolling. Anything’s a possibility with LeBron, but let’s just wait until July to work with an air of certainty, OK?
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1tnk8II
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