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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Less than a week after LeBron James announced his Philadelphia 76ers signing, the news is out that he did talk with the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency.
ESPN's NBA insider Shams Charania confirmed it recently , though it comes as little surprise. An Ohio native, James began his career with the Cavs in 2003 as the No. 1 pick in the draft.
James played there until 2010 before a stint with the Miami Heat, and he played a second stint in Cleveland between 2014 and 2018. He brought an NBA title to Cleveland during his second stint in 2016 before his eight-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers .
This time around, James met with Cavs ownership, but James' agent, Rich Paul, didn't know Charania knew about the meeting. Paul expressed his surprise in talking with Charania during the Game Over podcast. Charania explained he knew off the record and therefore didn't report it beforehand.
“For me, responsibility is important, being up front is important, ethically doing this job the right way,” Charania said. “My job is to tell the truth, but also, if it's off the record and it's being told this isn't reportable, and if I did that, you’re burning the source."
“You know the history of LeBron and Cleveland and what he means to that organization and something like that," Charania continued, "and that’s probably why something like that was told to me off the record because if that (was) to get out in real time, it would lead on.”
Now, Cavs fans will have to sit with the reality that James chose not to return to his home state and former team, despite prior success. James led the Cavs to the NBA Finals five times in his career, but Cleveland won only one title.
He joins a Sixers squad loaded with talent but notably got bounced as quickly as the Cavs did by the NBA champion New York Knicks in the playoffs.
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