How 4 Words Could Have Forever Changed The Legacy of LeBron James

ESPN's recent series on the fallout of LeBron's "The Decision" showed fans across Cleveland saying "F*** you, LeBron," "Never come back to Ohio," "We're better without you."

LeBron and his right-hand man Maverick Carter said they set up The Decision to raise money.  But fans across America saw something else.  They saw Brett Favre, waffling, holding a franchise hostage, (or in this case, a few franchises), becoming a media spectacle.  Ultimately, they saw all things come together to make LeBron what Americans despise about celebrities: egotistical, self-serving, and a sell out.

Am I saying LeBron is these things? No. Public opinion seems to voice it, though.  However, LeBron's legacy (as unwritten and unfinished as it is) could at this very moment sit polar opposite where it does now with just four words:

I'm staying in Cleveland.



For a brief moment days before The Decision, I had almost convinced myself that he was staying, only for the simple fact that he was announcing his decision live on national TV.  My logic was that who in their right mind would go on national TV to say that you were leaving?  Who would spurn a city--not only a city who drafted you, but essentially your own hometown--and go on national TV to do it?

Having just completed several PR courses in college, I had convinced myself--to do so would be a high PR crisis.  Why would he create it voluntarily and have to work to "recover" his image?

Then the other side of PR took over--of course he's staying.  He's staging this to be a big deal, get on TV, get it on ESPN and get them to promote it like they were starting a new show .... he's manufacturing this so in the end we're all going to say, "Wow, what a good guy LeBron is!"

Here's how it would go down:

Well, Jim...

(dramatic pause)

I'm staying in Cleveland.

This is my hometown, I grew up just miles away, the fans support me like family.  We had this idea just cuz I love the people of Ohio, me and Mav had this idea as a way to use my celebrity to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club.

Can you imagine?  LeBron would have catapulted himself light years ahead of every other athlete on the planet in likability and number of fans.  His jersey would sell even MORE.  Companies would HORDE to him and his agent, trying to hire for a spokesperson the man who just became the most likable athlete in the world.  Just when LeBron was getting old and unlikable, his image declining slightly over non-stories like walking off the court without shaking hands ... just as this was happening, those four words would have made me--and I'm sure a score of others--root for LeBron James (second only to the Jazz) for a lifetime.

For this reason, for a moment before it went down, I thought, "It's obvious.  What a genius PR move.  He's staying."

Nope.

After the fact, James and Maverick Carter tried to go back and say "we were just doing it to raise money for the kids."  But they failed to foresee how terrible it would look to hold your city and team hostage until you made your announcement on live TV, how crushing that would be to the fans who worshipped you for seven years.  And non-Cleveland fans, who weren't themselves crushed, would put themselves in the position of Cavaliers fans.  Deron Williams goes on national TV to say he is going to Dallas.  A few years back, Kobe goes on air to say "I'm taking my talents to the Windy City."  Crushing.  So fans everywhere sympathize and most feel a lot less enamored with LeBron.

Then also after the fact, while they didn't go out to the press on their own with this, LeBron and Mav agreed that race was a factor in the backlash he received.  The main factor is that people don't like anyone who they can label as "traitor" and "sell out."  A very small minority of people disliked it because of race, and if they did, they disliked him because of race before The Decision.

LeBron has placed himself in a lose-lose situation.  He loses, people revel in his failures.  He wins, and it means very little as far as his legacy goes at least for the immediate future, having to team up with Dwayne Wade and the most in-demand free agent big man of the off-season.

Am I saying LeBron made the wrong choice?  Not necessarily.  If he feels this is best for his career, who am I to say he is wrong?  After all, is this not a testament to his desire to win?  Maybe it was less about teaming up with another star, and more about getting out of Cleveland -- maybe he didn't think the front office was capable of putting together a winner.  He had the opportunity to take matters into his own hands, and he seized it.

But for his image, just mull that around for a bit.  Doing everything the exact same way, but then saying he is staying in Cleveland, would have made LeBron James become a celebrity of the highest order -- rich, world-wide fame, and almost universally liked.  Such celebrities are oh-so-rare.  If it's celebrity he wants, he missed his shot.

But if it's basketball he wants, who am I to say he's wrong?  He may win rings, he just won't be nearly as well-liked as he once was.

Maybe LeBron James just doesn't care about you. Maybe he just wants to win.