If Dan Gilbert expects people to believe that he’s “over” LeBron James after he was angry enough to send Cavaliers fans this letter just a few months ago, he’s even crazier than we thought. What’s particularly convenient about the whole LeBron returning to Cleveland situation is that just one day after Gilbert told reporters he has moved on from King James, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting something quite contradictory.
According to Wojnarowski, the Cavs have dumped “hundreds of thousands of dollars” into a well-known Midwestern law firm to investigate the notion that the Miami Heat broke NBA tampering rules when pursuing LeBron James. Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation even told Yahoo! Sports that Gilbert will “spare no expense to uncover whatever evidence he can to take to the league office.” If those are the actions of a man who no longer cares, I’d hate to see what Gilbert would do if he was still upset.
By league standards, the Heat obviously tampered with LeBron. No Miami representative was allowed to speak with James about joining the Heat prior to the start of free agency on July 1. I don’t think there’s a person in the world who thinks LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh haven’t been talking about the possibility of playing together for about two years now. Just look at this report, which is from June 29. Proving it? That will be a difficult — if not impossible — task.
This could be one of the worst cases of sour grapes we’ve ever witnessed. These are all grown men who are more than capable of making their own decisions. They aren’t college kids who can be pressured and manipulated into making a choice against their will. Does Dan Gilbert actually think he would have had a shot at retaining LeBron if members of the Heat organization kept their mouths shut until after July 1? Even he can’t be that dumb.
The truth of the matter is Gilbert is an ex-girlfriend that may never bounce back from being dumped. He can try all the rebound dating and hook-ups he wants, but there are few players out there who will be able to give him the TLC that LeBron brought to the table.
