It wasn’t enough for LeBron James to keep sending out cryptic Instagram posts and weird subtweets possibly aimed at his teammates. Or for the Cavaliers star to unfollow his own team on social media, and to then casually drop that he’s signing up for Snapchat.
Once again, we get to parse through another James quote oozing with subtext. In a feature from Bleacher Report about his relationship with Knicks counterpart Carmelo Anthony, he said he’d love to team up with his pals, which also include Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul, one day:
“I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together. At least one, maybe one or two seasons—me, Melo, D-Wade, CP—we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that.”
Maybe at the end of their careers, James said. Maybe sooner. One more ring chase, this time with everyone on board.
“It would be pretty cool,” James said. “I’ve definitely had thoughts about it.”
Before bounding away, he smiles and closes with a coy chirp: “We’ll see.”
Imagine if you’e Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love and you happen to read that. It’s just another moment in a series of suggestions that James might be happier if every day was like a vacation on a banana boat with his BFFs.
Playing with all of your friends sounds like a nice dream to have — unless you’re the players on James’ current team.
He might think, like the rest of the world, that whoever comes out of the Western Conference will topple anyone coming from the East. But last time I checked, the Cavs are still contenders. Plus, we’ve seen James put on that extra gear before and single-handedly lift his team when it needed him. I’m sincerely hoping we see that in the playoffs, but by then, will it be too late, with teammates possibly stewing over what they’ve seen in the last few months?
What’s even more tear-out-your-hair annoying? We JUST covered this topic yesterday and we’re still getting little bread crumbs dropped here and there hinting at some grand plan James has at trying to win one more championship down the road. Maybe the secret to one more ring is putting his head down, clamming up, and leading by example this year, instead of this constant barrage of stuff to let us know he’s already looking toward the future.
