10 Things LeBron James Has Nightmares About
By Ross Kelly
On Sunday LeBron James did a rare radio interview in promotion of his role in the upcoming film, Trainwreck. During the course of the interview, LeBron revealed that he has "nightmares" about certain plays and situations from the Finals loss to the Warriors. He didn't say which specific moments in the series kept him up at night but there's certainly no shame at losing to an all-time great team with your own team missing two of its best players. But this did get us to thinking about other things that LeBron may have a nightmare or two about during the offseason:
10. Tristan Thompson pulls a DeAndre Jordan, reneges on the Cavs, says he wants to return to Texas where he played college ball, and signs with the San Antonio Spurs for the veteran minimum.
9. Pat Riley fires Erik Spoelstra and replaces him with...Tyronn Lue.
8. The seemingly inevitable 2017 NBA lockout is exactly that - inevitable:
LeBron just signed a new two-year contract with a player option after the first year. That's to cash in on the new TV deal that will raise the salary cap, and player salaries, considerably. But it appears the NBPA and owners will be gridlocked come summer 2017 and that would delay LeBron and others from cashing in.
7. LeBron gets a text from Kevin Love asking if he checked out the new ESPN Magazine Body Issue
6. LeBron gets this text from free agent Kendrick Perkins: "Im still available: 1 yr, 5 mill"
5. The Indians win the 2015 World Series and the Browns win Super Bowl 50. By the time June 2016 rolls around, the entire city of Cleveland is too hungover from those two championships to even notice that the Cavs are in the Finals again.
4. Kyrie Irving proves not to be the next Isiah Thomas, but rather the next Penny Hardaway and can't stay healthy:
2010 - torn ligament in toe
2011 - concussion, sprained shoulder
2012 - broken hand, broken index finger, broken bone in face
2013 - sore knee, sprained shoulder
2014 - bruised knee, strained biceps
2015 - shoulder strain, knee tendinitis, fractured knee cap
3. His full-frontal scene from Trainwreck ends up as a DVD extra.
Nah, he's not worried about that.
2. Cavs re-sign JR Smith
JR had his moments as a Cavalier after being acquired midseason but stunk it up for the most part in the playoffs. Bad JR showed up as Smith shot just 40% during the postseason and was also suspended two games for throwing, and connecting, on a punch. Smith is an UFA and the Cavs appear to be moving on from him as they signed Mo Williams, re-signed Iman Shumpert, and drafted two wings. But if assistant GM LeBron James gets overruled by David Griffin or Dan Gilbert, and the team brings back Smith, LeBron may take a pre-game nap and wake up in a cold sweat...with his shoes untied.
1. He still has memories of Chris Bosh celebrating the Heat's first championship in 2012.
Ross Kelly is an Associated Producer for CBS Local Sports. He is from Louisiana and is a fan of all sports, but not of any teams (except LSU). He can be reached at ross.kelly@cbs.com.
