How LeBron Leaving the East would Affect the Celtics

There’s a good chance LeBron James leaves the Cavaliers, which would affect the Celtics immensely.

There were reports circling after the Cavaliers lost to the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals that LeBron would consider leaving Cleveland again to play in Los Angeles.

The Cavaliers are, thanks to James, in a financial pickle from all the roster spending they’ve done over the past three years. This will prevent the Cavs from adding onto their current core, since owner Dan Gilbert is already paying an immense amount in luxury tax penalties.

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The reason that Cleveland needs to make these changes is because of the fact that Golden State looks unstoppable right now. In the first year of their time together, the new look Warriors took care of the Cavs in five games, finishing the postseason with a 16-1 record.

So when James wants to improve his team’s roster without spending more money, it’s going to be pretty difficult to do so. This is where I believe he’ll consider leaving. LeBron is not getting any younger, and his supporting cast is as good as it’ll ever get thanks to all the bad contracts. So why not leave for the Clippers to play with Chris Paul?

It doesn’t have to just be the Clippers either. If you look at teams that have both established superstars and cap space, all of the possibilities are out west. If James leaves Cleveland to go to the western conference, that leaves the Celtics as the new kings of the east.

Boston has done nothing but improve during the Brad Stevens era, but James will continue to be a massive road block until he slows down. If he goes to the western conference, Boston can look at making the NBA finals every year in the foreseeable future. It’s much easier to win a championship going through one super team as opposed to going through two.

None of this will actually happen until next summer, but Celtics fans should pay close attention to the situation surrounding James. I predict that Cleveland will make a trade involving one of their bigs to counteract the Warriors small ball. This will help the Celtics beat Cleveland because small ball is their strength as well.

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If the Cavs don’t win the title next year as well, I think James will decide to try somewhere else. Since all of the possible destinations are in the western conference, the Celtics are going to benefit one way or another from the Warriors dominating the Cavs in the finals again.

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