LeBron James gives every team he's on a risk to win a championship – except for this twelvemonth's Los Angeles Lakers.

James has played some stellar basketball game this flavor, but the players around him aren't matching his success. He's averaging 29.ane points, the near since he was 25, but the Lakers are just 27-31 and No. 9 in the Western Conference.

So, volition James stay in LA, with an arrangement that hasn't successfully built effectually him since winning its 2020 championship, when his contract ends in 2023, or will he await for an opportunity to win a title elsewhere?

His latest comment left him some room to eventually return home and play for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are 35-23 and 2.5 games out of outset place in the Eastern Conference. But the biggest question is whether the Cavs should want him.

LeBron is one of the greatest players to e'er play in the NBA and easily the all-time in Cavs history. But would adding him fifty-fifty be worth it for Cleveland?

LeBron James used 6 words to leave door for Cavs render open

Los Angeles Lakers and former Cavs star LeBron James during 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend.
LeBron James during NBA All Star Practise on Feb. 19, 2022. | Arturo Holmes/2022 Getty Images

LeBron James is dorsum in Cleveland, Ohio, the land and region he grew up in and the urban center where he spent 11 of his NBA seasons, for All-Star Weekend. And while his render home shouldn't exist that big of a deal, the Cavs are practiced without James for the outset fourth dimension in 24 years, and the Lakers stink this season. And then, in that location has been a ton of speculation nigh whether James and the Cavaliers could reunite when he becomes a gratuitous amanuensis in 2023.

In fact, when asked about it, James used 6 words to exit room for a third stint in The Country open: "The door's not closed on that."

"I'm non saying I'grand coming back and playing, I don't know," James said, per The Athletic's Jason Lloyd. "I don't know what my futurity holds. I don't even know when I'm gratis."

James also praised general manager Koby Altman and the Cavs organization for its construction of its stellar roster.

"I recall Koby and those guys take done an unbelievable task drafting and making trades," he said before also speaking highly of Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, and Kevin Love, per The Athletic.

So, no, James didn't say he's 100% leaving LA and going dorsum to Cleveland. But he left room for information technology to happen open.

However, is information technology a good idea for the Cavs?

Why the Cavs should think twice earlier bringing LeBron back

The Cavs take an incredible team correct now. They take two All-Stars in point guard Darius Garland and heart Jarrett Allen. Evan Mobley is also the favorite to win the Rookie of the Twelvemonth Award, and they recently added Caris LeVert, who tin score twoscore points on any given night, via trade.

That's non to mention their drove of role players in Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, Isaac Okoro, Rajon Rondo, and others.

This talent has catapulted them from the bottom of the Eastern Briefing to a top-four seed. They are already contenders to achieve the NBA Finals out of the East without James, and adding him would easily make them the favorites to win the whole thing.

Merely despite LeBron being 1 of the top two players to ever play the game, the thought of signing him in free agency should give the Cavs hesitation.

They accept had all their success this year considering of their squad chemistry. Dearest called them the "biggest 'share the wealth' squad in the NBA," and it seems that all their stars genuinely desire each other succeed. They don't intendance near stats; they simply desire to win.

James would throw a wrench in that. He's a ball-ascendant actor, and offenses typically run through him. The Cavs' free-flowing style would go stagnant.

Cleveland is also excellent defensively, leading the league in points allowed per game. James, though, is declining on defense and could even get a liability on that cease of the court.

The other issue is what the team would look similar once he inevitably leaves again. He has left blank cupboards in Cleveland twice, and the Cavs had to spend the following years rebuilding. The franchise is ready for future success right at present, simply what if a young star grows tired of LeBron like Kyrie did and demands a trade? Do the Cavaliers want to adventure their futurity for a few years with what will be a 38-yr-one-time James?

That's the major question they must consider before fifty-fifty thinking virtually signing their hometown child again.

Can LeBron James realistically return to the Cavs?

Whether you lot think the Cavs should sign LeBron James again or not, nosotros first must consider whether it's even possible.

And it absolutely is.

Caris LeVert and Kevin Dear get costless agents in 2023, so Cleveland will accept a max contract spot (or something close to that) available that summer.

Only will the system want to office ways with LeVert if he plays a crucial role in its success the adjacent 2 years? Information technology could be hard to say cheerio to someone who is not only 10 years younger than LeBron just who has also built chemistry with the squad's electric current roster.

In that location'southward too the fact that James said he is playing his last NBA season with his son, Bronny. That means that if the Cavs don't draft Bronny, they could only have the elder James for a year before his son potentially enters the league in 2024.

All in all, there are numerous factors the Cavs and LeBron must consider earlier even thinking about reuniting. Merely his six-give-and-take message has set up an entertaining ride until his costless agency in 2023.

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference

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