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The “decision” of LeBron James reinvented: what if King James signed the free agency again with the Knights in 2010?

In honor of The Decision’s 10th anniversary, CBS Sports is reviewing LeBron James’ 2010 decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat wondering what would have happened if James had signed up elsewhere. In today’s edition, James decides to lean to Cleveland and sign again with the Knights.

The logic

If LeBron James had stayed in Cleveland in 2010, it wouldn’t have been a basketball decision. The only explanation for losing the chance to play with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or any other superstar of the day would have been emotional. Having lived all his life in Akron, no one would have blamed LeBron for the lack of heart to break the heart of Ohio.

The quote

“I am bringing my talents home and being with the Cleveland Cavaliers.”

How does the next decade of NBA history change?

In this scenario, there is no decorated partner set up to join LeBron in Cleveland. His best teammate remains Mo Williams. This would prove problematic in light of updates made in the rest of the Eastern Conference. Even without James, the Miami Heat would still have signed the formidable duo of Wade and Bosh. Riley may not be able to get the third star he really wanted, but finds an interesting consolation prize by swapping Michael Beasley and a first-round pick for Al Jefferson, an inner presence to compliment Bosh’s filming. With the last space on his hat, Riley grabs Mike Miller as his little striker and Udonis Haslem takes the full mid-level exception from the Denver Nuggets when it becomes clear that Miami’s priorities lie elsewhere.

The rest of the 2010 star-studded class plays with numbers. Carlos Boozer and a cavalcade of helpful RPGs land in Chicago. Amar’e Stoudemire takes on the task of relaunching the New York Knicks, and as was the case, in reality, he is joined by Carmelo Anthony in mid-season. A remarkable mid-season swap that doesn’t happen with LeBron in Cleveland? Williams’ exchange with Baron Davis that earned the Knights an unsecured choice in the first round of the Los Angeles Clippers. This was the choice that turned into Kyrie Irving. Williams is too important for their immediate chase in the league, so they reject the Clippers on that front. Few other teams would have been willing to take on Davis’ expensive contract, but a sneaky business partner fits the bill: Daryl Morey. At that point he was purely in asset creation mode with his mediocre Rockets and could have used the expiring contract of Yao Ming, who would soon retire, to make the numbers work.

Keeping Williams, however, proves useless for Cleveland. Even with LeBron, the Knights show no correspondence for Chicago in the second round. The Bulls continue to beat the heat in the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA finals. Houston kicks off the 2011 offseason by taking Irving no. 1 in total, but it’s not the only star guard whose fate changes here. Dan Gilbert has openly lobbied the Los Angeles Lakers by acquiring Chris Paul after the blockade because, in his mind, the deal would have further stacked the deck against the small markets. It was a position he had taken after losing LeBron. With James still a member of the Knights, he doesn’t interfere and Paul becomes a Laker. Dwight Howard joins him a year later, but is so unhappy with the notoriously tough Paul and Kobe Bryant that he joins Irving in Houston in 2013.

Rose’s torn ACL clears Cleveland’s path in 2012 enough to allow LeBron to return to the NBA finals for the first time in five years, but runs into the incredibly athletic young Oklahoma City Thunder. James explains Kevin Durant, but the Knights don’t have an answer for Russell Westbrook or James Harden. The Thunder not only win the championship, but reward Harden with the maximum contract that they didn’t actually offer him. The MVP trio of Durant, Westbrook and Harden of Oklahoma City does not melt.

For Cleveland’s purposes, it doesn’t matter. By this time, Williams and Anderson Varejao have turned 30 and most of the remaining actors in the early LeBron years have disappeared or become obsolete. They had nothing but mid-level exceptions, inflated expiring contracts and late choices in the first round to work with to improve their list. LeBron slowly takes on the role of Kevin Garnett of his generation, a legend whose primacy has been wasted in the wrong city. The last two years before his 2014 early termination option both present playoff losses to Paul George and Indiana Pacers, who in turn lose the NBA finals against Thunder.

At 29, LeBron senses that this free agency may be his last chance to find a contending team among his first, but his options are rather limited. Wade and Bosh beat their prime numbers in Miami, so pairing with them makes little sense. The same goes for Bryant in Los Angeles. So he decides to join with another close friend of his who appears to be a free agent that summer: Carmelo Anthony. But where? The Knicks simply have no way of creating the flexibility to sign both, so they look to a team that James considered in 2010: the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls, using the amnesty arrangement on Carlos Boozer, can reach most of one maximum slot. The other has to go through an exchange and, with LeBron coming, handling the ball becomes a redundant skill in Chicago. So, to free up space for their duo, the Bulls distribute Derrick Rose in the space reserved for Anthony left in New York. This leaves the Bulls with a core of LeBron, Carmelo, Joakim Noah and the young Jimmy Butler. Taj Gibson remains on the bench and rookies Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic provide the filming. James finally has his superteam.

And finally, grab his first ring. With Durant unable to defend his title following a Jones fracture at his feet, James and the Bulls defeat the Golden State Warriors to win the championship. A year later, with Durant healthy, the Bulls defend their crown and beat the Thunder for championship no. 2.

This, unfortunately, would have been their last. Durant, looking for a new challenge and a different form of basketball, joins the Warriors in the summer of 2016 as in reality, but since the Warriors had not previously won a championship, he replaces Stephen Curry as a favorite son of the Bay Area when leads Golden State beyond Chicago in the 2017 NBA finals. A rematch with the same result a year later forces LeBron to reconsider what could be his final act. Aside from Butler, the bulls are getting old. A younger contender is on the rise, however, in the city he has left behind.

The current Cavaliers have challenged the odds by winning the NBA Draft Lottery three of the four years LeBron had disappeared. Our alternative Cavaliers universe does the same here and with surprisingly similar results. Both get a real superstar (Karl-Anthony Towns for the fake Cavs, Irving for the real ones), a real bust (Markelle Fultz for the fake Cavs, Anthony Bennett for the real ones) and a promising but disconcerting ball of physical talent ( DeAndre Ayton for the fake Cavs, Andrew Wiggins for the real ones).

James announces in a letter posted by Sports Illustrated that he intends to return to Cleveland and end his career as a Knight. He mentions Towns by name in that letter, but excludes incumbent # 1 who chooses Ayton, as he needs another perimeter marker by his side, like Irving was actually, and knows that Ayton will be the piece that will earn him that teammate. The question is: who? The 2018 offseason had no elite free agent guards, nor did it switch teams through trade. However, he had a rather tempting alternative available forward.

Cleveland, of course, would be a little skeptical about trading choice no. 1 overall for the then injured Kawhi Leonard, but LeBron insists that the Knights loosen immediately, then Gilbert takes the big step and sends his two n. 2 previous picks, Ayton and Fultz, to Spurs for Leonard. The move works brilliantly. Leonard’s defense protects Towns and allows James to coast along that side of the plane, and their offense together is almost flawless.

Although contaminated by the asterisks’ talk with Kevin Durant, LeBron finally wins a championship for Cleveland in 2019. Leonard, after seeing the adulation received by James for winning one for the land, leaves the Knights in free agency to join Paul George in his hometown, Lakers. Durant renews with the Warriors determined to return stronger than ever and to match Michael Jordan’s six championships. The Lakers, Warriors and Cavaliers kick off the 1920s on top of the NBA.

Was this result better than LeBron’s reality?

Without a doubt worse. Regardless of what happens next, any chance LeBron had had the GOAT title would have been lost if he had gone into the first 11 years of his career without a championship. A Cleveland championship contaminated with an asterisk would not be as sweet as what the Cavaliers actually won in 2016, and with Leonard going into the free agency, LeBron’s odds of winning a fourth title are not great. As surprising as it may seem, The Decision was actually the best thing that ever happened to Cavs fans.

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