Although LeBron James can opt out of his contract this summer, and although he was noncommittal about his future following the Los Angeles Lakers‘ playoff exit, many people expect him to be back with the Lakers next season.
His family has apparently established roots in the Los Angeles area, and his best chance of winning another NBA championship would, in all likelihood, come with the Lakers.
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But there are plenty of people who feel he should or even wish he would leave the Lakers. Nick Wright, the Fox Sports 1 personality and noted James apologist, said on “First Things First” that James should return to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a third stint with them.
“Just go home, ‘Bron,” Wright said. “From the area, it’s year 23. No one can say he’s front-running. In the entirety that the Cavs have existed, they’ve never been past round two except for when he’s been there. And they’ve lived in the finals.
“… It can only happen if ‘Bron is willing to play for close to nothing.
“So it would really just have to be him being like, ‘You know what? I did my job in L.A. I brought them a championship and helped them get the player that they then used to get the next, you know, the next iteration of Laker basketball. No one can say I didn’t.’ I gave them seven years, more than I think anyone realistically expected.”
The Cavs went 64-18 during the regular season and were being picked by many to reach the NBA Finals. But they flamed out in the second round in five games to the Indiana Pacers, and it now seems as if they need to make significant changes in order to get to the next level.
The Lakers, of course, traded for Luka Doncic on Feb. 1, and if they add a starting-level center and improve their depth, they would have a championship-caliber roster, assuming James returns. But Wright still feels Cleveland would give the 40-year-old a better shot at another ring for one reason.
“I think as great as Luka is, I think Bron has a better chance of winning a championship playing with the Cavs,” Wright argued.
“Not because the Cavs would necessarily be better, but because they would have to win two tough rounds in the playoffs, the conference finals and the NBA Finals. And the Lakers, like, the West is just so deep and so hard.”
Both conferences, however, have evened out, so perhaps Wright’s claim doesn’t have a lot of truth to it. The Detroit Pistons, the sixth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, could’ve been almost as challenging a matchup for L.A. as the Minnesota Timberwolves, the sixth seed in the West, were for L.A.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Nick Wright has a huge request for LeBron James