The evidence is mounting that the Cleveland Cavaliers may not be able to get it together in time to make a fourth consecutive NBA Finals run this season.
In an explosive piece that was published on Tuesday, The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd reported that LeBron James yelled and cursed at multiple Cavaliers executives during a team meeting in January, the same meeting where the team questioned Kevin Love’s illness. When asked about the incident, James told The Athletic that he “couldn’t remember everything that was said.”
Lloyd also adds that James does not trust and does not communicate with the Cavs front office, who did not consult the four-time MVP on the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston. They instead chose to negotiate that deal “entirely without James’ knowledge.” Furthermore, Lloyd notes that James has no relationship with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert (which isn’t too surprising) nor does he have one with general manager Koby Altman (slightly more surprising).
Indeed, we heard recently that the departure of former Cavs GM David Griffin this past summer had an adverse effect on James’ relationship with the team. With The King seemingly butting heads with everybody from management to ownership to his own teammates, Doomsday may just be here for Cleveland.
