LeBron James says he may have stayed in Miami Had They Won The Finals

It’s easy to look back at the end of last season and come up with a bunch of “what if?” scenarios about what would have happened if Miami had won the NBA Finals. Well NBA conspiracy theorists can continue coming up with their own possibilities, as word has spread that LeBron James is teasing folks on what this past summers decision could have been. In an interview with Rachel Nichols that is set to air Friday night at 10:30 pm on CNN’s show Unguarded with Rachel Nichols, James touches on his Miami departure and the difficulties he would have had leaving if the Heat had won a third straight Finals. According to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal:

LeBron James concedes it would’ve been much harder for him to return to the Cavaliers had the Miami Heat won a third consecutive championship in June, he told CNN’s Unguarded with Rachel Nichols in an upcoming episode.

“It’s a greater chance, for sure,” James said. “It would be hard to leave back-to-back-to-back championships and try to go for four. But obviously you really can’t live and think of what may have happened. I’ve always been a person kind of live in the moment.”

While this isn’t the most shocking of news as many have already made their own assumptions on the matter, hearing it from James perspective should offer a clearer understanding of his motivations. It’s easy for people with no real insight on the matter to draw their own conclusions, but its far more revealing to hear it from the actual source in question. The idea that he returned to Cleveland simply because it was home is certainly a great story, but there was still reasonable to think that there were other reasons that LeBron left Miami.

To leave a situation like the one he had helped build in Miami couldn’t have been easy, and hearing James hinting at what could have been says more than enough to the curious. There is no guarantee he would have stayed if Miami had won another title with him, but it certainly would have been much harder for him to just walk away from. The entire interview should be well worth the watch once it airs.

Other News Around The League:

Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks has not been cleared for contact yet. The Hawks are set to begin training camp next week, and after missing half of last season with a torn pectoral muscle it would be a relief for them to finally get their star player back. The report comes from Chris Vivlamore at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview he conducted with Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer:

Q. So if he’s not 100 percent, can you put a percentage on how close he is? A. We haven’t done the 70, 80, 90 (percent). We want to make sure we are taking care of him and we’ll probably err on the side of caution and being conservative in moving him through the month of October so he’s ready for the start of the season. Q. Is he cleared for contact? A. He’ll be held out of contact early in training camp. He’ll progress through and get to where he’s got full clearance in everything but at the start of camp there will be some limitations.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have announced that their trade with the Boston Celtics has been completed. With media day set to open tomorrow for Cleveland, they have kept themselves busy with this transaction as training camp is on the horizon. The Cavaliers acquired Keith Bogans and the rights to Sacramento’s 2015 and 2017 second round picks. Both of the picks are Top-55 protected. Per Marc Stein of ESPN: The Cavaliers, as ESPN.com reported earlier Thursday, surrendered the non-guaranteed contracts of John Lucas, Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas — as well as a player Boston intends to keep in forward Dwight Powell — to acquire Bogans and his trade-friendly contract, which holds great appeal to Cleveland. The combination of ‎Bogans’ contract being non-guaranteed both this season at $5.3 million and next season at $5.5 million — along with Brendan Haywood’s fully unguaranteed $10.5 million salary in 2015-16 — potentially gives the Cavs a combined $16-plus million in unguaranteed salary to dangle in trades for the 2015-16 campaign.

Charlotte Hornets guard Jeff Taylor has been arrested on domestic assault charges. Taylor who was expected to join the Hornets for training camp next week, spent most of last season recovering from an a chillies injury. Per WCNC.com: Jeffery Matthew Taylor, 25, was arrested at the East Lansing Marriott at University Place around 1 a.m. Thursday. Taylor is charged with one count of domestic assault, assault and malicious destruction of property. His bond was set at $5000. The Hornets released a short statement Thursday night:”The Charlotte Hornets were made aware of the incident involving Jeffery Taylor early this evening. The organization is in the process of gathering more information and doing our due diligence. This is a matter that we take very seriously.”

The Hornets plan on signing free agent big man Jason Maxiell prior to training camp. According to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer a deal should be in place sometime Friday. Bonnell has also stated that the deal will not be guaranteed. Despite having two young power forward in Noah Vonleh and Cody Zeller at their disposal, the Hornets may be looking for a more experienced big man such as Maxiell to provide their front court with depth.

Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers has gone on record and said that free agent Jermaine O’Neal probably won’t return to the team. O’Neal played for the Warriors last year, and after 18 seasons it is unknown if he will retire or not. In any case his time with Golden State seems to have come to an end. Per Rusty Rimmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: GM Bob Myers said the team is no longer trying to sign free-agent center Jermaine O’Neal and will go forward with Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Ognjen Kuzmic. Myers, who used to represent O’Neal, said he thinks the 35-year-old is still weighing a decision about retirement