Chris Sheridan, formerly of the Associated Press, ESPN, and SheridanHoops, reported that the 2017-18 season will be LeBron James final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, due to a terrible relationship with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.
NBA source said today: “This will be LeBron’s final season in Cleveland. He is 100 percent leaving. Relationship with owners beyond repair.”
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) August 16, 2017
The report got around quickly, indicated by the thousand of retweets it got which led to other reporters fact checking the report.
Sam Amico sources cite that Sheridan’s source, “swung, and missed by a mile.”
Andy Baskin, Sports Director at News 5 Cleveland, cited that sources say the report is false.
I was told that the @sheridanhoops story on LeBron is speculation. Also, @KingJames relationship with @cavsdan is beyond repair is false.
— Andy Baskin (@andy_baskin) August 16, 2017
Joe Vardon, the Cavaliers reporter for cleveland.com also said the report is untrue, according to three of his sources.
For what it’s worth (damn it, I’m on vacation), three sources close to LeBron said this latest tweet about him is 100 percent false
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) August 16, 2017
I have more: three sources paid particular attention to LeBron’s relationship with ownership, and said LeBron does not view it that way
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) August 16, 2017
And finally, one of the sources close to LeBron said there is no NBA source who could speak on his behalf in the way it was reported
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) August 16, 2017
While the reports refuting Sheridan’s do raise question marks, it is worth noting that Sheridan was the first to report LeBron James was heading back to Cleveland back in 2014.
LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a source tells https://t.co/Cc9XrPZuuu. @KingJames #LeBronToClev https://t.co/yaNgQDrcff
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) July 9, 2014
LeBron’s decision to rejoin Cavs will be announced on his Web site before he leaves for World Cup final in Brazil. https://t.co/qZ0gqCIZIE
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) July 10, 2014
There is also plenty of evidence to believe James is unhappy in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers ousted General Manager David Griffin, who assembled a team that has appeared in the last three finals and won one. They then took awhile to replace him and for that reason were not able to make a trade for Paul George or Jimmy Butler and both players ended up with other teams.
They then hired a relatively inexperienced – one season as an assistant GM – candidate to replace Griffin in Koby Altman.
Another piece of evidence pointing to the lack of stability in Cleveland is ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reporting back in July that Kyrie Irving wanted to be traded.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also reported that the Cavaliers want to trade Irving for a young star who they could build around for the future. Building for the future with a soon-to-be 33-year old LeBron James on your roster would be a bold move.
Or maybe, the Cavaliers are planning for life after LeBron.
