May 22, 2013

Report: LeBron Has Been Trying to Talk to Dan Gilbert for Months

February 17, 2012 by 31 Comments

Amidst all of the rapid-fire discussion surrounding LeBron James’ recent comments about returing to Cleveland and making good with Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert comes a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski stating that this was not the first time the NBA forward has reached out to his former boss throughout this season.

Per the report:

LeBron James came to Cleveland with an unmistakable mission this week, the beginning of a campaign to soften the fans and ownership on his desire to return to the Cavaliers in 2014. Free agency is forever on his mind, and James is determined to make his hometown want him as much he wants it again.

This was no accident, no misspeaking, nothing out of context. Before mentioning Thursday his openness to playing in Cleveland again, James months ago had an emissary or two carry that message to the Cavaliers’ front office, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. His camp wanted the message delivered to owner Dan Gilbert, sources said, but so far, the response has been silence.

Wojnarowski goes on to say that James using the public as a medium will only serve to make things more precococious for the Cavs owner. James is “laying groundwork” for the team to desire him again and the ball will rest firmly in the court of the man who felt the most betrayed on the night of The Decision.

NBA tampering rules forbid owners from discussing players rostered by other teams, presently making things difficult for Gilbert even if he desired to respond.

[Related: LeBron James’ Comments on Returning to Cleveland Well- and Curiously-Timed]

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  • http://twitter.com/DocZeus B.J. Steiner

    “Free agency is forever on his mind, and James is determined to make his hometown want him as much he wants it again.”

    I see LeBron is following the D.E.N.N.I.S. Plan.

  • Vindictive_Pat

    Everyone who reads this site knows of my disdain for LBJ, but I can’t help myself… LeBron, your ego is out of control.  In his mind, he thought he could leave Cleveland to go play with his buddies throughout the prime of his career and win some championships, then come back to Cleveland and get back to hanging out, making jokes, creating elaborate handshakes with teammates, and winding down his career in comfort.  At least he’s been kind enough to let Dan Gilbert know of his plans.  (I’m taking some liberties with his statements, but this is just what it feels like to me).

  • BrownsFanSF

    I wish I could like this twice :-)

  • mgbode

    wait, you mean Gilbert is actually following the NBA rules against tampering.  Aghast! how dare he!  no wonder LeBron took to the media on his mission.

  • mgbode

    (would you be surprised if LeBron wasn’t baiting Gilbert to try to turn him in — that would be the ultimate villain move via WWE)

  • Wazzup3310

    Hey #6…be a man and do it in PERSON. maybe, just maybe, someone will start to respect u around here. Don’t send ur cronies to do the job of a real sincere, apologetic man.

  • MrCleaveland

    Fortunately, I don’t have any personal experience in this manner, but this seems similar to a situation in which a spouse cheated, left, and then came back. It just will never be the same between the two of them, and you have to wonder if it’s even worth the trouble.

  • Tom Pestak

    has Kelly Dwyer rage quit yet?  Like done one of these and walked out of yahoo sports offices (his mom’s basement?)  
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTUsOKjWyQ

    Seriously, he DESTROYS Amico for his column, despite Windhorst saying similiar things, mostly on the grounds that his “source” is total crap.   Then LeBron himself BECOMES THE SOURCE.  And what does KD do?  He writes an article telling LeBron to shut up, he has the cajones to link to his childish tantrum article and Amico’s original article in the same post, and somehow doesn’t apologize?  And then Woj writes an article one day later saying “LeBron has an UNMISTAKABLE GOAL to get back in Cleveland’s good graces so he can play here again if he wants?!?!?!?!”  I mean, that is BREATH. TAKING.  That is OJ saying, ‘here is the knife I did it with, judge’, and while we’re at it, ‘here is what she was talking about before I killed her’, I’ve got it all laid out nicely for ya.  ”And your plea, Mr. Juice?”  ”Oh, not guilty, your honor.”

     I know we “have to talk about this” LeBron stuff – and I’m as guilty as everyone else.  But WOW has this whole ordeal been just an excruciating lesson in hubris, decadence, and energy directed towards something so ridiculously unimportant.  Seriously I watched a 7 minutes video clip of people on ESPN shouting about which city should be MORE OFFENDED.  In between false statements, they found a way to tell people how they should feel (the media’s favorite thing to do), told people how something not offensive was a cause for offense (their second favorite thing to do), and they contradicted themselves 9 times about what “should have been said/done”.  People often said “this whole tebow thing amazes me” as a smug way of saying “i have a strong opinion about Tebow but instead of looking like a “hater” from either side I’ll just get out of the weeds and make snide remarks on how superior I am to both groups”.  Well, not to sound like THAT GUY when it comes to this LBJ stuff (because I have very strong opinions) but this feels like my breaking point – when analyzing something this abstracted from sports, which in itself is just entertainment has gone too far.

  • Waffle1317

    God, he is so grounded when he comes home.  He needs to sit down and think about what he’s done.  No video game for at least a month.

    Kudos to the cavs for taking the high ground here.  To say this guy doesn’t know what he’ll think about tomorrow is the biggest understatement ever.  Don’t plan around him – since that clearly doesn’t work too well.

  • Albert

    Why does the thought of LeBron returning like the Prodigal Son bring me such excitement?  I would love this.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Exactly – went down there to check “win title” off his checklist as quickly as possible and then back to easy town.

  • Jared in LA

    This whole situation is just weird.  I think Lebron’s camp is trying to heal his image with a “see, we contacted Dan Gilbert multiple times, no response” along with the “I hope to come back one day” type stuff to force the move in Gilbert to admit guilt as well.  How unprecedented is it that a guy leaves a team in shambles and then in his 2nd season with another team is talking about returning (alegedly) in his next free agency stint, backed up by multiple reports by “credible” sources? What?  This whole thing stinks. 

  • Gentry Shane

    Mixed feelings. Part of me wants him to suffer for the rest of his life with the regrettable “decision.” The other part understands people make mistakes and bringing back LeBron just 3 years after he left would make some sense. And who knows whatever young talent we bring in the next two years to match him up with.

  • cmm13

    Shut down the Internet, BJ wins.

  • Foghorn Leghorn

    If he wants to come back he can get on national television, call it “The Apology”, and begin a 40 mile hand and knee crawl up I-77.  Ya know, for charity.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/ Scott @ WFNY

    Well done, BJ

  • Stevo517

    Got em

  • floydrubino

    Not on his knees we don’t want them hurt.

  • floydrubino

    so you are weak and feeble and sell your soul for some good tv.

  • floydrubino

    not only is lebron not coming back but he thought by now that people would of come over to his side to laugh at cleveland. So now he is kissing up because his agent probably sees the financial impact that move has made. It would not surprise me if he is working with a pr firm and this is part of their plan to repair his image. I don’t think he is a good person.

  • Nobody1231234

    Am I the only one who would rather have two other people on the Heat before Lebron (well, 3, with Cole)?

  • BuckeyesRus

    LaBronski, if you can’t stand the “heat” then get out of the kitchen! He seems to not like the “heat” down in South Beach; and wants to give us a snowjob back in Cleveland! But he was the McFlake by the Lake when he was in Cleveland! LaBroom’s ego swept him out of Cleveland and it was his “Decision” to go! Now that same ego thinks he can strut back into Cleveland and everything will be status quo! I don’t think so! His basketball-sized libido has him all jacked-out-of-shape! Just like he illegally orchestrated his plan to play in Miami with Wade and Bosch; now he’s trying to talk illegally to Gilbert about coming back! What a tool! Maybe he could go to college and play and start all over again! Isn’t he still eligible? He’s probably already considered that! Anything to make life easier! Life is hard, LaBum, and then you die! You made your bed, now lie in it!

  • Browns Fan

    He is not thinking about one thing.  What happens if the Browns draft RG3, and he leads the Browns to a winning record, say 9 – 7, next year.  No basketball player will be able to overtake a Browns player in Cleveland.  He would be a after thought to the Browns success.

  • http://www.clevelandsports360.com/ CS360

    It still may be to early for Dan Gilbert. The knife was in his back pretty deep. Gilbert treated LeBron James like a family member, James didn’t even has the decency to sit down and talk to Gilbert before he went on National Television to make his Bad Decision . Yes James was young, he made a terrible mistake. It is still to early to think Dan Gilbert is over it yet.

  • Justin

    I don’t care…I’ll take him back in a second. No one was more angry/hurt more than I was…But this isn’t a husband cheating on his wife. I don’t care. Bring him back. I miss sports relevancy…and yes im willing to sell my sport’s soul to have him back

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NCRY7WJXB5ZHIDKCYQE7UHVCBM Rose

    You all realize that this is just another anonymously sourced anti-Lebron article by Woj…every single thing he writes about Lebron is an anonymously sourced attack piece, and not one prediction he’s made about Lebron has come true.  Why do you think there’s going to be any truth in this piece?  Why do you think that Woj’s “sources” about Lebron are always leaking material that no one else on the NBA beat ever hears?

  • Max

    If the Browns go 9-7 next year, it will be proof the Mayans were right, and we will all be dead anyway.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Anyone else read this about an interaction between James and a fan in Washington?  The fan I do believe was a woman.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/lebron-threatened-kick-heckler-butt-gotta-problem-tough-153104602.html

  • Roosevelt

    I can’t believe that I’m just seeing the article now. But I disagree with all the people who are so cynical about it. Lebron acted like a jerk on his way out, but that doesn’t mean he’s essentially a bad guy. Outside of that nadir of his career he always came across as somewhat more human than other NBA superstars. 
    He’s gone, and he left stupidly, but that doesn’t mean that he is just pretending when he says he wants to come back. He was always kind of a hometown kid and we were right when we said he’ll never be loved like he was in Cleveland. And as others have been saying on twitter and elsewhere, I’d rather have a championship with Lebron than no championship without him. 

  • Jamilmustafa

    It’s always sunny in Cleveland?

  • Lawrence

    Not sure why people keep posting about a mans decision and the mistakes the man may or may not have made. Some people only like to post drama B.S and get others to buy into it. Lebron was great for Cleveland , so great that people still miss him . I understand people feeling upset , if you listen to all the hype , as for myself I didn’t watch “the decision” show because a person is allowed to leave Cleveland anyway they want and I knew if I watched the decision and Labron said he was going to leave , I would have been left with a ugly image which isn’t truely Lebron . Players leave and it sucks , but Lebron is ours no matter where he plays . If he wins a championship with Miami the WORLD wil know Lebron is a product of Ohio and I for one Love it .. I’m 45 and have yet to enjoy a player more..

    Come home Lebron !!  99 percent understand and will welcome you , that’s just the true Ohio style, We get angry but we also forgive , why  tell you , you already know that’s why you wanna come home because you are one of us …