But the joy and success that the Cavs savored all season long took a quick turn in the NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n
Shortly after demolishing the Miami Heat<\/a> in a historic four-game, first-round sweep<\/a>, Cleveland endured a gut-wrenching reality check upon being eliminated by the Indiana Pacers<\/a> in five games of the East Semis.<\/p>\n Right now, there is just a single question hanging over the Cavaliers: Where to go next?<\/p>\n This season marks the third campaign of the franchise under the Mitchell era. Yet behind the leadership of the superstar guard whom they acquired last 2022 blockbuster trade<\/a> with the Utah Jazz<\/a>, the Cavaliers are yet to take the next step and even reach the Conference Finals.<\/p>\n To be fair, Mitchell did everything he could to guide Cleveland, averaging 34.2 points per game against the Pacers despite nursing injuries, but it was still not enough.<\/p>\n There is still a significant element missing around the Cavs that can propel them to get over the hump. And for Nick Wright, there is only one familiar figure who can absolutely offer the needed help.<\/p>\n Speaking to First Things First, the NBA expert campaigned for LeBron James<\/a> to consider another Cleveland homecoming in the wake of the Cavs\u2019 underachieving run.<\/p>\n \u201cJust go home, \u2018Bron,\u201d Wright said. \u201cFrom the area, it\u2019s year 23. No one can say he\u2019s front-running. In the entirety that the Cavs have existed, they\u2019ve never been past round two except for when he\u2019s been there. And they\u2019ve lived in the Finals. There was a lot of, you know, chatter this year: is this the best Cavs team ever? Is this the most fun Cavs season ever? How fun is it now?<\/p>\n \u201cDonovan, who I think even in defeat, a compelling club superstar case, is now on this very weird streak of every year he\u2019s been in the league, he\u2019s been in the playoffs, and every year it\u2019s ended before the Conference Finals. It can only happen if \u2018Bron is willing to play for close to nothing.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it would really just have to be him being like, \u2018You 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\u2019t.\u2019 I gave them seven years, more than I think anyone realistically expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Wright believes LeBron James has better chance to win a title with the Cavs than LA Lakers<\/p>\n It has been seven years since he left Cleveland in 2018, but James\u2019 legacy remains glowing across the Cavaliers organization. Upon returning to the franchise in 2014, the NBA superstar led them to four consecutive Finals appearances, highlighted by their historic first-ever championship in 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite having Luka Doncic<\/a> at his side, James also had a disappointing 2025 NBA Playoff run with the LA Lakers<\/a>, being eliminated in a five-game upset<\/a> by the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> this past opening round.<\/p>\n If James desires to win his fifth championship ring before retiring, Wright believes that he must pursue a greater shot by wearing a Cavaliers uniform.<\/p>\n \u201cI think as great as Luka is, I think Bron has a better chance of winning a championship playing with the Cavs,\u201d Wright argued. <\/p>\n \u201cNot 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.\u201d<\/p>\n James holds a $52.6 million 2025-26 player option. Who knows what might unfold this upcoming summer, but witnessing him taking his talents back to Ohio would be an epic storyline for both him and the Cavaliers.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Questions are ahead for the Cleveland Cavaliers after their postseason exit at the hands of the Pacers. Kenny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,864,185,150,6,3114],"class_list":{"0":"post-35588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-donovan-mitchell","14":"tag-lebron-james","15":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nick-wright"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114514047127529777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2214693635-940x627.jpg\")
Photo by Dylan Buell\/Getty ImagesNick Wright urges LeBron James to return to Cleveland<\/p>\n