LeBron's Departure May Be Unstoppable

More proof of LeBron's bigness: What he might or might not do two seasons from now can overshadow all playoff news. Like this latest bit of analysis, from SportsMoney

If NBA commissioner David Stern allows LeBron to bolt Cleveland before the Cavs win a championship it would crush the franchise. Owner Dan Gilbert has done a good job of running the Cavs since buying the franchise in 2005 for $375 million but still needs at least one more scorer to get to the finals. Gilbert has the money to keep LeBron in Cleveland. If LeBron leaves it would send a bad message to other small market owners -- we will favor a big market team with horrible management (Knicks) over a small market team with good management (Cavs).

The logic then being that Stern will go out of his way to make sure James gets as rich as possible in Cleveland, thus negating the whole "large market" incentive. Though this theory discounts the Cavs' current miserable condition, or the gathering forces in New York that just might make basketball there into an irrepressible proposition. There are a lot of assumptions being made here about James' capacity to bear Cleveland, or the Cavs' ability to provide a bare minimum. In the end, if the money's even but the grass is mad green over in New York, no amount of Stern-ian maneuvering may be able to save the small market cause (here).

One curious line from the original post: "LeBron does not run the National Basketball Association the way Michael Jordon did when he played for the Chicago Bulls." That's true, but James has an ungodly amount of leverage here. And if he plays it right—mostly, if he leaves Cleveland—he just might end up in the enviable position of player-tyrant.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.