The Cleveland Cavaliers will lose the 2015 NBA Finals.
While that bit of prognostication comes at a useless moment when the end result seems fairly obvious to at least half the world, it also comes during an ironic watershed moment in LeBron James’ career, because he has never been better.
Like a chapter in one of George R.R. Martin’s cruel books the hero returns home to champion his team to the ultimate victory.
Instead, James will likely leave the arena in defeat, a figurative Jon Snow losing vital blood on Westerosian snow.
But in a twist we have been enjoying for the duration of the series, James has been the hero we have all been pleasantly rooting for, which is really quite odd considering the tumultuous and chaotic path this 30-year-old’s career has seen.
Forever compared to Michael Jordan, James endured a PR nightmare one ill-fated night on July 8, 2010 when he decided his next move in a widely panned broadcasting gaffe.
But this isn’t about “The Decision” nor is it about Michael Jordan, because James has earned a place all his own on the NBA’s Mount Rushmore—where players are no longer stacked up against other players but used as the litmus test on which we base greatness.
Much as there will never be another Michael Jordan, there will never be another like LeBron James, so it’s time we savor the rest of his now too short career and begin in earnest asking which next youngster will be like the King.
But from that debacle of melodrama in 2010 to this pristine presentation of entertainment, the Cavaliers’ greatest player has stepped it all up one more notch to become a Super Saiyan of sorts, taking an injured and ravaged rabble of players to the very brink of glory.
In doing so he has asserted his right to the most self-aware and obviously correct statement uttered at a press conference in recent memory: “I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world; It's that simple.”
Self-confidence aside, this wasn’t always the case. Back in 2010, myriad NBA players of yore were questioning James and his ability to take the throne as best in the game.
Post “Decision” there was the likes of Jordan stating the following to NBC Sports, via Yahoo! Sports, “There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team.’”
Oft opinionated Charles Barkley had this to say at the time as well, via AZCentral.com, “Mike and I are in 100 percent agreement on this. If you're the two-time defending NBA MVP, you don't leave anywhere. They come to you. That's ridiculous.”
The 2010 debacle also saw Magic Johnson get in on the brief bashing. Per ESPN, the Lakers legend offered the following: “We didn't think about it 'cause that's not what we were about. From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”
But a lot has happened in the transom of a few years. James has switched back from a Heat jersey to one adorned with ‘Cavs’ on the front.
Per an archived Ira Winderman tweet at the time, James’ brand has approved in time as well.
In 2010 the King was fourth in earnings among all U.S. athletes with a whopping $46 million over the year.
Fast-forward to 2015 and things have improved beyond that already remarkable figure. Forbes’ Kurt Badenhausen compiled 2015’s highest paid athletes in the entire world, which featured James at sixth. Breaking it down, James can thank his salary for $22.8 million and endorsements for the remaining $44 million.
One thing that may have changed tremendously in the past year is how James resonates with NBA fans on the whole.
From marketing goat to darn near the G.O.A.T., James has changed his image with dedication, hard work and some of the best play we have seen in recent memory.
It’s this kind of next level play that has Johnson again opining on the Cavaliers’ leader.
Via Twitter, Johnson had this to say: "If LeBron keeps playing the way he's playing & the Cavs win the title, this will be the single greatest performance we've seen in the Finals."
And if we might add an addendum to that quote, a little qualifier that seems to complete what we are all thinking. This has been the best we have seen from James and may remain the greatest playoff performance since you know who was wearing a Bulls uniform.
Johnson, Jordan and Barkley demanded James show what he had without flying off to a team of All-Stars. Well, this is it, and he is showing what he can do with second-tier players.
Not only does he have multiple triple-doubles this series, but his 40-point night in Sunday’s loss was the first such performance since Jerry West dropped 40 and corralled a triple-double in 1969.
Business Insider’s Tony Manfred reminds that without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and with a slumping Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith, Cleveland is still at home for an unlikely Game 6.
Yet the fairy tale ends with the Warriors holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy at some point this week.
This was none more evident than the fourth quarter when the little engine that just might petered, coughed and ran out of gas. Sadly, there is no time left to fill up the gas tank.
Despite a game for the ages from James the Warriors triumphed, marking how we may remember this series for decades.
Golden State, replete with able albeit battered bodies, outlasted an onslaught that was essentially a game of 5-on-1 in Game 5 Sunday.
Stephen Curry is finally feeling it, dropping 37 points on 13-for-23 from the field, signaling the final throes of a highly intriguing series.
But perhaps, and this may just be my romantic outlook after a tremendous season, James gained something in defeat not normally afforded other lovable losers.
James is inching towards the extremely likeable athlete akin to that Mike guy we oh-so wanted to be when growing up.
Seeing what he has done this series with what is a veritable collection of broken parts and some duct tape is unbelievable.
Winning two in a row would have me and, I assume, countless others screaming “Michael who?”
But that doesn’t mean a loss Tuesday or in its possible subsequent Game 7 would diminish our feelings that James is the undisputed best in the world at the moment, and we are going to sit back and enjoy what will be a resplendent legacy in the making the next few years.
