LeBron James' weekend in Los Angeles did nothing to answer the questions about his future

LeBron James spent the weekend in Los Angeles sidestepping questions about what he’ll do when he becomes a free agent. (Harry How/Getty)

LOS ANGELES — When LeBron James announced he was going back to the Cleveland Cavaliers four years ago, it seemed like he was embarking on the final chapter of his remarkable career.

“My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball,” James said in a Sports Illustrated essay explaining his decision. “I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.”

It all set up perfectly. After four years — and two championships — with the Miami Heat, he was returning to the team with which he began his career, and the area in which he grew up, to finally break Cleveland’s championship curse and burnish his own legacy.

James did just that, leading the Cavaliers from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors to give Cleveland its first championship in a half-century. The Cavs have been to three straight Finals, with a chance to make it four this year.

[LeBron James thinks his game is at ‘an all-time high.’ Based on his age, he may be right.]

But the narrative around the Cavaliers this weekend centered on its failings — losing to the Clippers Friday and the Lakers Sunday by the same 14-point margin certainly didn’t help matters — and how those failings could influence what James chooses to do this summer in free agency.

“Listen, at the end of the day you’ve got to want the most out of whoever you’ve got on the floor,” James said, referring to having four players (Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Cedi Osman and Rodney Hood) out with injuries. “You want to get the most from whoever is playing, but sometimes you can’t overcome this many injuries that we have. We have pretty much five guys out of our top nine or top 10 of our rotation or not playing because of injuries. It’s next man up, but sometimes you just fall short.”

The favorite parlor game among NBA executives, the media and fans these days is predicting what James is going to do. For every executive who says he seems destined to join the Lakers, there is another who expects him to re-sign with the Cavaliers, and another that has him going to Houston or San Antonio or Philadelphia or elsewhere.

The intrigue — like most things that have happened to James over his 15-year career — is by design. James keeps an incredibly tight circle around him, allowing little to emerge that he doesn’t want the world to see.

So whenever James allows the world to see anything, there can be attempts to draw meaning from it. For example, James released his LeBron 15 “Hollywood” colorways Sunday — and wore them in a game against the Lakers that day.

LeBron 15 “Hollywood” drops March 11th pic.twitter.com/LEncLve1bJ

— J23 iPhone App (@J23app) March 6, 2018

Then there were his comments after Friday’s game about DeAndre Jordan, the Clippers center for whom the Cavaliers discussed trading at February’s deadline (“I knew the conversations were going on from the outside … If it would have happened it would have gave us a boost but it didn’t happen so you move on.”), or the comments he made praising the Lakers for the way they have played under Coach Luke Walton the past two seasons.

The most noteworthy remarks came at shoot-around Friday morning, though, when James declared he had no list of teams that he was ready to choose from once he sits down to decide what he’ll do as a free agent this summer.

“I understand that I’m a free agent at the end of the summer, so I understand the frenzy that comes with it,” he said. “It’s not my first rodeo, but I don’t … it doesn’t bother me. I don’t talk about it too much.

“Like I said, I’ll handle that whenever it comes. But I understand that the conversation happens here, because first of all they have cap space. And this league is much better when the Lakers, the Knicks and the Celtics are all good at the same time. That’s just how it is. So that’s what also creates the frenzy.”

But it wasn’t just James who was trying to control the narrative this weekend. Lakers President Magic Johnson — he of the multiple tampering fines already this season — made a point of going over to talk to Maverick Carter, James’ business partner, and Rich Paul, his agent, during the second half, adding another layer of intrigue to a weekend full of it.

Lakers exec Magic Johnson taking a moment to say hello to the LeBron James team because, well, you never know: Agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports and business manager Maverick Carter pic.twitter.com/f32ryKb5Lr

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) March 12, 2018

So what will James to do? From this vantage point, it appears he doesn’t yet know. It’s hard to believe the man who wrote the essay about “coming home” four years ago would want to leave, but there have been plenty of clashes with Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert, Cleveland traded away Kyrie Irving last summer and the Golden State Warriors emerged out of nowhere to become a juggernaut the league is trying to catch. It could come down to whether Cleveland is able to make a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals — giving James an eighth straight in the process.

[Derrick Rose to the haters: ‘I don’t need your f—— validation’]

Regardless, if he does decide to leave, where will he go? Sure, the Lakers have young talent. But James has made it to seven straight NBA Finals precisely because he’s played on one veteran-laden team after another. Is he going to stop doing that in his age-34 season? It would seem unlikely.

Houston has been touted as an option, but even for someone as creative as Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, finding a way to get James to Houston with a full max contract — something everyone expects him to want — alongside James Harden and Chris Paul will be no easy task. Philadelphia offers similar intrigue, but Joel Embiid’s health is still a serious question mark, as is his potential fit alongside Ben Simmons (who, as a reminder, hasn’t made a three-pointer this season).

But all of this only serves as a reminder of why the 33-year-old James remains the NBA’s most captivating presence. Sure, there are plenty of big personalities in the sport, and there is a generation of brilliant talents filling in behind him. But no one brings with them the constant drama and intrigue that James provides.

That’s why James’ every move was analyzed and scrutinized over the past 72 hours — just as they will be for the next four months, until he has to let the world know his decision.

Read more: 

In this age of the enlightened athlete, where are the voices beyond the NBA and NFL?

No one was more excited than Stephen Curry over Davidson’s NCAA tournament berth

The Cavaliers are back on track, and Larry Nance Jr. can take them even higher

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