Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James reminisced about his 2015-16 NBA championship-winning Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday after Throwback Hoops’ Instagram page shared highlights of the Cavs’ 120-90 home win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
That Cavs team was legendary for a few reasons.
First, the Cavs won the city’s first professional sports championship since 1964.
Second, it was a seminal win for a franchise that had lost James to the Miami Heat for four seasons but welcomed him back in 2014 for a second run.
Third, the Cavs defeated one of the greatest teams of all time, the Stephen Curry-led Warriors, who won an NBA record 73 regular season games.
Fourth, the Cavs became the first NBA team to come back from a three games to one deficit in the Finals and come back to win the championship.
That team featured a host of great talents, including James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
James, at age 41, is still excelling in the league and just averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game in his 23rd NBA season. His contract is expiring, leading to speculation on whether he’ll return to the Cavs, head elsewhere or perhaps retire.
Some rumors have persisted of late, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst addressed recently on ESPN Cleveland:
Windhorst also had this to say on the Lakers on the Hoop Collective podcast (h/t Edwin Garcia of Silver Screen and Roll).
“The LeBron side, from what I am told, would like the Lakers to come and say, ‘LeBron, here’s our plan for you. Here’s what we’re offering.’ And if they’re offering less than the max, here’s why: ‘Because we’re going to use this cap space to sign these players, and this is where you slot in.'”
