Jim Ingraham: What if LeBron had never left?

What if LeBron never left Cleveland? What if he played all 22 years of his career with the Cavs instead of just 11? How many more mountains could he have climbed? How many more awards could he have won? How many more records could he have set? More importantly, how many more parades — instead of just one — would we have witnessed? We will never know, nor will he. Predictably, the partnership never lasted. The kid from Akron played 11 years in Cleveland, won one NBA Championship, then left again to save the world. Call it a case of the right icon, but the wrong era — for us, anyway. Whoa is us. Oh, sure, the world's greatest basketball player — perhaps even the world's greatest athlete — delivered the region's only major sports championship in the last 77 years. Then he was gone. Gone and destined to only periodically return as the enemy. Gone after leaving only an exhausted fan base to dream about what might have been if he had stayed. It wasn't always like that in the world of sports, especially in the NBA. Bill Russell's entire 13-year NBA career was played in Boston. So was Larry Bird's (13 years). So was John Havlichek's (16 years). Dirk Nowitzki was an NBA star and is a future hall of famer. Each of his 21 years in the league were played with the Dallas Mavericks. David Robinson played 14 years with the San Antonio Spurs and nobody else. Tim Duncan played 19 years with the Spurs and nobody else. Magic Johnson played 13 years in the NBA, all of them with the Los Angeles Lakers. For a long time in the league, NBA players were not basketball vagabonds. Many of them broke into the league with a certain team and they stayed there. Back then, unlike today, it was rare if any star players switched teams. In his 14 years in the league, Oscar Robertson only played with two teams: The Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks, where Robertson partnered with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win an NBA title. Michael Jordan only played with two NBA teams. One of them was the Washington Wizards. I can't remember the other one. Shaquille O'Neal lumbered up and down NBA courts for six different teams in his 19 years as a hardcourt mastodon. Stars creating their own teams became a thing in the NBA just as LeBron was becoming a thing in the NBA. Surely you remember the "Super Teams" fad that swept (some would say "infected") the league at that time. Call it AAU-itis. In the NBA version, many of the league's top free agent stars — former AAU idols/and/or teammates — would pick one of those nice warm-weather NBA cities, pitch their tents, hang around long enough to win a couple rings and move on in hopes of winning another title for some other shuffleboard community. LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh teamed up for championship runs in Miami in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Then Sports Illustrated published LeBron's "I'm Coming Home" announcement, and The Land lost its mind. He came home, and he conquered. In arguably the greatest championship performance of any Cleveland team in any sport — maybe the greatest clutch performance of any team in any sport — LeBron did his LeBron thing and led the Cavs to arguably the greatest comeback in any professional sport, by winning three games in a row (two on the road) to claim the 2016 championship. There was a parade. It was great. J.R. Smith took off his shirt and refused to put it back on. None of us will forget any of it. Then LeBron left town. Again. There was no "I'm Leaving Home" story in Sports Illustrated. He just left for the coast. For the sun. For the Lakers. He owed us nothing because he delivered. He produced. He LeBron'ed. But had he stayed? ... oooh boy! Imagine that. Imagine LeBron joining the best team in the NBA this year. Imagine LeBron and Donovan Mitchell on the court at the same time? LeBron and Donovan or LeBron and Luca? Who you got? Seriously? Next question. LeBron is 40 years old now, and it looks as though he still has five or six years left if he wants them. Why wouldn't he? He's a freak of nature. Always has been. You can't make his career up. He is one of one, and will be one of one as long as he plays. Had he not left Cleveland the second time he might have wound up with three or four rings. Imagine this Cavs roster, plus him. We will never know, and maybe it's just as well. Too painful. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.