This season is LeBron James’ eighth with the Los Angeles Lakers, the most consecutive years he has played with any franchise. But following this season, he will be an unrestricted free agent and it is unclear if he will return to the Lakers, retire, or possibly sign with another team.
Should he want to continue his NBA career to a record 24th season, and doesn’t remain to the Lakers, a return to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers is something that could be in the cards. Of course, LeBron has played 11 seasons across two separate stints with the Cavaliers and brought the franchise its lone NBA Championship in 2016.
And apparently the Cavaliers would be open to a third stint with its greatest player in franchise history as Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports that they would gladly welcome James back should he want to return in free agency this summer:
Multiple team and league sources told ESPN the Cavaliers would gladly welcome James back this summer if he wanted to return to Cleveland for his 24th NBA season and third stint with the team.
Obviously there are a lot of factors that would play into this potential move. First and foremost, LeBron has to decide whether he wants to continue playing after this season, though he clearly still has plenty left in the tank as he is averaging 22.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists this year for the Lakers. But questions have arisen recently about his relationship with Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss and some could see a split on the horizon.
If James does want to continue playing, and it’s not with the Lakers, the Cavaliers do make some sense as they have been looking to get over the hump as a championship contender, but have been a disappointment this season after winning 64 games last year. Perhaps LeBron could be that piece to take the Cavaliers to the next level.
James’ stint with the Lakers can’t be classified as anything other than successful as he brought this team out of the worst stretch in franchise history and won a championship in 2020. And maybe the Ohio-born legend would like to end his career where it started, in Cleveland, and the Cavs would seemingly love that as well.
LeBron James hopes Lakers are building momentum
James isn’t thinking about the future, but rather is focused on leading this current Lakers team and the superstar hopes they are building momentum after some strong wins to kick off this road trip.
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