Lebron James unfollows the Cavs on social media, and why that is a big deal
In case you somehow missed it; two things involving Lebron James' social media accounts happened this week. One kinda weird, the other, somehow more bizarre.
At some point this week, Lebron James decided to unfollow the Cleveland Cavaliers twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as the Cavaliers sideline reporter and broadcast analyst. That's the weird one. The bizarre one? For some odd reason people are racing to tell you that it's a complete non-story.
That's baffling. Think about it; The world's most famous basketball player might be laying the groundwork to leave his hometown team for a second time, and no one wants to talk about it.
Here's the undeniable - Something odd is happening in Cleveland right now. A quick recap of the past 60 days:
A year and a half into a failed experiment, the then 30-11 Cleveland Cavaliers fire David Blatt on January 22nd - a head coach that Lebron never got along with, and constantly undermined, most famously during last year's NBA Finals. For his part, Lebron claimed to have never been consulted on this decision - which is sneakily the most preposterous proclamation of the season.
Five weeks later, Stephen A. Smith reports that Kyrie Irving is unhappy with his situation in Cleveland. Stephen A. Smith, appears to be pretty entrenched in Lebron James' camp. A camp that has shown no reluctance to leak stories when the King is unhappy. Roughly ten days after that, Lebron James posts a motivational quote to twitter that is commonly interpreted as a shot at Kyrie Irving.
A week after this, Stephen A. Smith goes on a radio program and insists that Lebron's associates have told him that he could leave Cleveland again. Again, Stephen A. Smith - the guy who reported Lebron was leaving Cleveland the first time.
Throughout his career - outside of his on court excellence, there's been one constant with Lebron James: Where there's smoke, there's fire. Rumors about him leaving Cleveland? Confirmed. Butting heads with Eric Spolestra? Confirmed. Heading back to Cleveland? Confirmed. Feuding with Blatt? Confirmed.
Not this time, though. Lebron James - the kind of guy who get his coach fired, leaks derogate stories, subtweets his teammates and unfollows his team on social media - is too mature to leave Cleveland again. The least self-aware player in the history of the sport is too self-aware to abandon his hometown (but not his hometown) team again.