What if LeBron James never left the Miami Heat to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers?
In a previous article, the scenarios in which Kevin Durant joined the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland entered a dark period, and the Heat won another ring were explored. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love still joined forces, but this time it’d be in H-Town with the Houston Rockets. The San Antonio Spurs defeated LeBron once again in the 2017 NBA Finals.
Would this be the end of the LeBron-era Heat?
Miami’s Dynasty Crumbles
In this alternate timeline, it is the 2017 offseason. LeBron would want to get his sons, Bronny and Bryce James, to a school like Sierra Canyon, where they could develop into future NBA stars. Furthermore, his issues with Heat president Pat Riley wouldn’t disappear. Riley’s reputation for micromanagement and strictness, combined with waning title hopes, would drive LeBron out.
On top of that, Dwyane Wade would finally want his big payday after years of taking pay cuts. Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison’s refusal, like in real life, would be the nail in the coffin. Wade recently admitted he felt disrespected despite denying it back in 2016.
In this scenario, he would delay the move by a year due to remaining in the title picture with LeBron, but the tension had to be released.
Wade would opt to head to Chicago to play for his hometown Bulls, while LeBron would head to the Los Angeles Lakers a year earlier than he did in reality. While LeBron would again consider the Cavs at this point, he would still opt for the Lakers for several reasons. With Chris Bosh‘s career having ended in 2016, the Heat’s epic chapter draws to a close in 2017.
The Clippers Tick Off Kevin Durant
The Los Angeles Clippers have proven to be one of the most disloyal franchises in NBA history. In the 2018 season, they traded Blake Griffin, who they just signed to a massive extension, to the Detroit Pistons.
They claimed to have wanted to make him a “Clipper for life,” but it turned out to be a blatant lie. They also recently sent Chris Paul home and cut him from the roster after all he has done for the franchise through the years.
In this timeline, the Clippers’ practices would be no less dirty.
They’d make the same trade, believing Griffin was too injury-prone. They’d add to their depth and health, but anger their biggest star. KD has a history of issues across various teams, which would make him seek a way out of the team. He signed up to be a part of a “Big Four,” not to see one of his best teammates get stabbed in the back by the front office.
A Four-Team Race Out West
In the 2017-18 season, the Rockets finally found their chemistry and reached the NBA Finals for the first time this century. Acquiring Kyrie and Kevin Love would push the team over the hump they encountered in real life. KD wouldn’t be on the Golden State Warriors, and the Rockets would still have many of the pieces they had in real life.
For salary cap purposes, they likely would not have had Ryan Anderson, and they may have had to get rid of Trevor Ariza‘s contract as well. But a lineup of Kyrie, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, Kevin Love, and Clint Capela would be lethal. Love’s ability to stretch the floor and start fastbreaks with quarterback-like long passes would fit right into Mike D’Antoni’s scheme.
The Rockets’ top Western Conference rivals would be the Warriors, Spurs, and Clippers. All would be tough opponents, but none would be good enough to topple Houston. LeBron would be struggling to make the playoffs with the young Lakers roster. But who would make it out of the Eastern Conference without LeBron?
The Boston Celtics Arrive Much Faster
Without LeBron on the Cavs, the Celtics find themselves in the NBA Finals easily. They took the Cavs to seven games without Kyrie in real life (who Boston had already traded for by that time). In this timeline, they would have a banged-up Isaiah Thomas, who Boston never trades for Kyrie. Thomas would not be as good as he once was, but would be more than serviceable.
When the Celtics arrive at the 2018 NBA Finals, they realize they’re no match for the Rockets. Their team is still young and underdeveloped, and they’d be facing a team of star veterans in their primes. The Rockets would finish off the series in four or five games.
KD Is Still Gonna KD
The 2018 offseason has arrived, and KD is still upset. Yes, he will also be bouncing around to different teams in this alternate timeline. He opts out of his contract with the Clippers, and five prominent suitors emerge: the Rockets, Warriors, Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia 76ers.
At this stage, KD is desperate for a ring. Even without Andrew Wiggins, the Wolves still trade for Jimmy Butler to create a “Big Three” alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine. This means Butler still wouldn’t arrive in Philly until later that year. As a result, the Rockets and Warriors would become KD’s favorite options, as they would give him the best chance to win a championship.
Warriors power forward Draymond Green would have called KD by now, looking for help to put the team back in the title picture. But Kyrie’s documented friendship with KD would be the tipping point. Houston recently expressed a desire to acquire both, making this alternate-timeline possibility all the more likely.
The Kyrie-KD Experiment Works
In case it wasn’t clear before, yes, KD would form yet another superteam. The Rockets, seeing how the Clippers’ experiment played out, would sacrifice Kevin Love in a sign-and-trade with the Clippers. To free enough cap space to bring in KD, either Love or depth had to go, and Houston wouldn’t want to play with injury risks.
It didn’t matter that the Rockets had just won it all. Kevin Durant is one of the best ever to do it, and Love wouldn’t be the star he once was in Minnesota. Furthermore, Love would only have one to two years left on his contract.
The Lakers would likely have traded for Anthony Davis earlier in this timeline, likely during the 2019 season rather than in the 2019 offseason. But they would have had difficulty matching up against a Rockets team that had Kyrie, KD, Harden, AND a stronger bench.
In the East, the Sixers would make the NBA Finals. Kawhi Leonard would not stand in their way, and Boston could not. The trio of Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler (acquired through mid-season trade), and Joel Embiid would be a formidable one in their own right.
However, like Boston, they were not prepared to face a team as dominant as the Rockets. Barring injuries to either Kyrie, Harden, or KD, the Rockets would go back-to-back, and KD would have his first championship.
The Pandemic Still Hits
It’s now the 2019 offseason, and the upcoming season will be the COVID season. In real life, Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals, taking him out for the entire 2020 season. He may suffer a similar injury, but nothing is for sure. The same applies to Kyrie, who didn’t play in the 2020 playoffs due to a shoulder injury.
Kawhi’s situation at this point is entirely uncertain. The Spurs may be in the title picture. They may not be. Maybe they would’ve traded Kawhi at this point. It’s too difficult to say.
It’s safe to say the same about the Warriors, who could’ve turned out very differently roster-wise and health-wise.
LeBron’s Lakers, now with a bit more experience and chemistry, could pose a significant challenge for Houston in the NBA bubble. Who wins the 2020 NBA Finals would come down to whether Kyrie and KD can stay healthy. If both stay healthy, the Rockets would three-peat. If even one goes down, the Lakers or a healthy Warriors team would win.
Homecoming
By the end of the 2020 season, LeBron’s 2014 decision to stay in Miami has had so many ripple effects that it’s too challenging to predict anything from here on out. But one thing is for sure: LeBron still returns to the Cavs.
LeBron would most likely have returned to the Cavs in the 2025 offseason, after both his sons graduated from Sierra Canyon High School in California. By this point, the Cavs would have built some draft capital and drafted some (hopefully) good players. Would they have drafted Darius Garland and traded for Donovan Mitchell?
One can only guess. However, LeBron stated that his decision to return to the Cavs in 2014 went beyond basketball.
https://twitter.com/KingJame/status/1632965108069699584?s=20
In this fantasy, LeBron still feels the unfinished business in his hometown. He wants to improve the community in Northeast Ohio, and he doesn’t have much time left in his playing days. He signs with a Cavs team that gives him a chance to win another championship or two before he hangs it up.
Bronny’s career trajectory would likely pan out differently in this scenario as well. But the intelligent guess is that he stays in college a bit longer before LeBron tries to get the Cavs to draft him.
LeBron’s final NBA years would be spent alongside his son, Bronny (and maybe his other son, Bryce), in Cleveland.
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