The worst-kept secret in the NBA is that LeBron James doesn’t just play for the Cavs — he’s basically their GM, too. He seemingly orchestrated the blockbuster Kevin Love trade, and despite nominal GM David Griffin’s protestations, he probably had a major say in the firing of David Blatt. Hell, the Cavs even appear to have added second-round pick Kay Felder due to his relationship with LeBron.
Therefore, it falls on LeBron to respond to Golden State’s paradigm-shattering signing of Kevin Durant. And if noted NBA source Luxury Jets Group is to be believed, his plan is to out-superteam the NBA’s latest superteam by luring longtime pal Dwyane Wade to the Cavs:
The Wade-to-Cleveland rumors started to heat up when retired Cleveland radio host Joe Lull — who was Patient Zero in the “Dan Gilbert is flying to Miami” story two years ago — cryptically tweeted the FlightAware link for a private jet traveling from Ft. Lauderdale to Cleveland Monday night. The implication, of course, is that Wade was on the flight, ostensibly at LeBron’s behest, and, at the very least, considering joining the Cavs.
Notably, Wade has been on vacation in Spain with LeBron and the Banana Boat crew, and it’s hard to believe that LeBron wouldn’t use this opportunity to woo Wade to the Cavs. After all, we know the two have discussed reuniting again. If we’re going to enter tinfoil-hat territory, Wade’s dad has been known to wear a Cavs shirt on occasion, and the Cavs just followed Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, on Twitter. Also, there was this tweet from Monday:
What could it mean?!? The possibilities are virtually endless, and indeed, one of them is that Wade is fed up with the Heat and wants to chase another ring with LeBron in Cleveland. One problem: Wade would have to be willing to forfeit a massive amount of money to do this, which seems unlikely given Brian Windhorst’s report that he’s looking for $50 million from the Heat. Miami has reportedly offered him a two-year, $40 million deal — exactly what Dirk Nowitzki got to stay in Dallas — while the Cavs could only afford to pay him their $3.4 midlevel exception. There’s also the issue of moving from Miami to Cleveland, which has little precedent among non–Northeast Ohio natives.
All of that says nothing of whether Wade would even help the Cavs defeat the new-look Warriors in a potential Finals rematch. Yes, Wade’s still productive (for now), but his knees are shot, and Kyrie Irving needs the ball to be effective.
Moreover, Wade has had relationship issues with the Heat before, and the two sides have always been able to work out their differences and reach an amicable resolution. There’s no logical reason to think this time will be any different, but with Durant headed to Golden State, nothing in the NBA makes sense anymore, and we shouldn’t rule anything out. Only the Banana Boat knows what the future holds.