Opinion: Lebron James Moved…. Again
Travis Willmann, Sports Editor
The views and opinions expressed on in this article are solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Vision NGU or North Greenville University.
This past summer was a sport filled season that included the Golden State Worries winning another championship, The Cleveland Browns building their program by adding prominent college football talent and of course LeBron James leaving Cleveland, again. After, bringing Cleveland a championship in 2016 and coming back from being down 3-1 in the NBA finals to the Warriors, James was once again done with the city that loved him. The 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons were hard for James, losing to the Warriors twice in the finals after having a difficult regular season. However, in my opinion, this did not give James a reason to leave Cleveland, except to try and build his own super team.
On June 29th, 2018 James opted out of his contract and on June 1st signed with the Los Angeles Lakes, according to Rich Paul his agent. This move by James did not surprise many, but made many angry, and rightfully so. James had now left Cleveland twice, according to ESPN, the first time to try and build a super team in Miami with the Heat. After winning two back-to-back championships everything seemed to be fitting into place. That was until the next season, 2013-2014, when everything fell apart in Miami and after that season he left once again for Cleveland.
After returning to Cleveland it was clear that James wanted to try and build a super team again, but it would not work again. After winning one title in Cleveland and losing to the Warriors’ “super team”, James announced this past summer he was “taking his talents” to South Beach. As a part of the Lakers James’ will try and build another “super team” with Lonzo Ball.
Since when did players jump from team to team to try and create “super teams”? This is not what the inventor of basketball wanted. The inventor of basketball James Naismith wanted the game to be played for fun, not trying to create “super teams”. When super teams are made the people that lose are the fans. It is no longer fun to watch your team play if you are not one of the few “super teams”. Everyone knows what is going to happen and who is going to win before the season starts.
The reason Michael Jordan is considered to be the greatest basketball player ever is that of what he did without having great players around him. He played for the love of the game and before 10 years ago, everyone played for the love of the game. Not to mention that players had loyalty to where they started. Jordan was drafted to the Chicago Bulls and that is where he stayed even when he came back from retirement, it was only after Jordan’s prime and when his career was almost over that he got traded to the Orlando Magic, according to ESPN. Jordan did not seek out the greatest players to be on his team and neither should James. If James was to be considered one of the greats, then he should have done what Jordan did without needing a “super team”.
However, James will always do what he has done, search for that super team. Especially now since he is past his prime he will need great players around him to make him great.
