On LeBron
I’m a casual basketball fan who has been annoyed by the LeBron spectacle that has unfolded over the last two years. It’s a story that has transcended the sports page and I’ve been surprised to see so many who obviously know so little about basketball, or even LeBron, offer commentary on his decision and the now-infamous-Comic sans screed that followed. Regardless, there have been plenty who do know a lot about basketball offer their insights.
First, it looks like the Miami-decision was a done deal for months, if not years. Bill Simmons capably lays out the case here. If this is real, and it certainly looks like it is, New Orleans fans can expect to see Chris Paul in teal for only another year or so. That’s a big loss. The other pertinent take-away from Simmons article, is that James best chance to build a dynasty was in Chicago. Rather than build a dynasty, LeBron chose less money and less support in Miami.
In doing so, Will Leitch claims that James laid bare the artifice that is professional sports in this short story:
“But never has it been laid more bare, and never did it feel so empty. It felt like a break, the moment when the tide crested, when we looked at the games, and their players, and ourselves, and wondered: Why in the world are we watching these awful people? It was a question impossible to answer.”
Although I sympathize with the point, I don’t buy it. That this story has broken through to the front page cuts to the heart of professional sports. Does the work of professional athletes matter less than that of our businessmen, doctors, and politicians. At their most bare, I think many of the complaints about LeBron are rooted in this sentiment. NBA-writer extraordinaire Henry Abbot makes the case succinctly here:
“The owners, GMs and agents may have seemed like they held all the cards, but that’s only because players weren’t great at wielding the power they had. The players always drove the value, because they are what motivated the fans who paid for everything. It has taken decades, but eventually a player — this player — figured out how to really put himself in the driver’s seat, with billionaire owners lining up, one by one, attempting to earn his valuable affections.”
Abbot suggests that LeBron has fundamentally altered the landscape of professional basketball, if not professional sports entirely. At the end of the day, we have a 25-year old man choosing to play with his friends in a city that offers him a chance to spread his wings outside of his hometown and Cleveland.
If you give credence to the foregoing, LeBron is painted as a shrewd and talented businessman that lacks the killer instinct necessary to make him a champion on the hardwood. Whether he can leverage his business talents to help him on the floor remains to be seen.
I can say from personal experience, however, that professional athletes have enormous potential to impact lives—in very positive ways. If you believe this, like I do, then these aren’t awful people taking advantage of us. Rather, they are working the system as it exists. If you don’t like it, work to change it.
The fact that LeBron is leaving money on the table means something. The fact that he wants to play with his Olympic teammates also means something. What it means, however, I have no idea.