Seems like LeBron James and Kevin Love get along. (USATSI)
Seems like LeBron James and Kevin Love get along. (USATSI)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are having one of the weirdest LeBron James seasons ever, and that's saying something. On top of the pregame handshake controversy, and their early season struggles, and the conversation about them not trusting David Blatt, and Blatt calling Kevin Love "not a max player," which was true and seemingly innocuous but still really weird, now we've got the Coincidence Controversy. 

This thing goes all the way back to preseason. Here's a quote from Kevin Love to ESPN about trying to find his groove with the Cavaliers: 

"I'm comfortable and just not trying to, I guess, fit in so much," Love said after the game. "I had a talk with the guys on the plane ride over to Brazil and also at different practices off the floor and they told me to fit out. Just be myself.

"I kind of laughed and smirked at that. Off the court, I never have any problems with that. But on the court, it's just us having so many weapons and being able to fit together out there on the floor. ... You always say check your egos at the door but we also need to bring our egos with us because that's what makes us so great. We wouldn't be here without them."

via Kevin Love of Cleveland Cavaliers in control with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving watching - ESPN.

So that makes sense, especially for where Love was at, trying to establish himself and not necessarily be so passive. Now that was back in October. Love has struggled over the last month until Sunday's game against the Lakers. He just doesn't look comfortable or effective on either end of the floor and his offensive absence seems to be exacerbating his defensive problems. 

On Saturday, James tweeted this:

So that seems weird. But was James really tweeting something about Love in reference to a comment made back in preseason? Was this something Love had reasserted lately? What's the deal? So reporters asked him about it after the Cavs' win Sunday, in which Love played really well (32 points, 10 rebounds, three assists on 61 percent shooting -- even if it was against the Lakers).

And then things got... really weird.

From the Akron Beacon-Journal:

5. The use of "fit in" and "fit out," plus the emphasis on both (all caps) seemed a bit too similar to be coincidental. Yet when he was asked about it while surrounded by the large media contingent, James denied he was aiming the tweet at any one specific person.

6. "It was more about people in general," James said. "It was a general thought I had. Obviously whatever thought I have people try to encrypt it and Da Vinci code it and all that stuff. People are always trying to fit out instead of fit in and be part of something special. That’s what it’s all about."

7. After the large pack of cameras and recorders dissipated, a few of the regular beat writers stuck around a few extra minutes. ESPN's Dave McMenamin, who used the original "fit in/fit out" Love quote in an October story for ESPN, showed James the original quote. He smiled.

8. When we pressed him on it some more, James laughed and said, "It's not a coincidence, man."

9. I was shocked. McMenamin was shocked. No recorders were running, no cameras were live. It was just some guys standing around talking. The conversation continued for a few more minutes before James dressed and headed for the door. I stopped him just to be clear.

10. "When we're standing around BSing like that, do you consider it on the record or off the record?" I asked. James responded: "Ain't nothing off the record. I know everything that comes out of my mouth. If I say it, it's on the record." Then he pointed at McMenamin and walked out of the locker room.

via Cavs 120, Lakers 105: Jason Lloyd's 32 final thoughts on tweets, quotes and coincidences - Cleveland Cavaliers - Ohio.

So clearly he was fine with it being published. That leads to the question of what he meant when he said "It wasn't a coincidence."

Because, apparently, it meant something different than what the reporters, and really any person capable of deductive logic, would assume it meant. James took to Twitter again on Monday: 

Yeah, media! How dare you ... do your jobs responsibly and then provide me with an out to avoid any controversy which I will then pass on and later blast you for having done your jobs correctly! Ya jerks!

At this point, you're probably thinking this entire thing is a little silly. And it is. The Cavs have won 13 of 14, they just pasted the Lakers, Love had a monster game, everything is rosy. It's one tweet and then a vague comment about said tweet. What's the big deal?

The big deal is in the context. Love has never really fit in with this Cavs team. He and LeBron have never shown to have the close superstar relationship that James shared with Dwyane Wade or that he shares with Kyrie Irving. And if Chris Bosh was always closer with Wade than James, James was always patient with Bosh, because Bosh was still contributing in big ways. And the Cavs' winning streak doesn't mean that the problems with Love's contributions to the team, or his relationship to his teammates are fixed. It just means that they're winning games. There are bad parts going on with most teams during win streaks. It's unavoidable with human beings who have personalities. 

(Unless you're the Spurs.) 

And James seemingly calling out a teammate, his superstar teammate that the team traded Andrew Wiggins for, is a big deal. It's further complicated by Love's impending free agency, though again Love said that he's staying in Cleveland. It's innocuous drama to some, but the rift between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen helped lead to Allen's departure from Boston, among other factors. The rift between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard helped lead to Howard signing with Houston. These things do have tangible impacts, even if they seem like silly parsing of words now.

As far as what James actually meant (I guess?) the only thing I can think of is that him saying "It's not a coincidence" is that he did mean to send a message, but not to Love. Maybe it was about the entire team, or another specific teammate. But in those situations, James could have said after "It's not a coincidence" that he was aiming at someone, just not Love. Or when the ABJ asked him if it was on the record, he could have said that it was on the record, but to be clear that wasn't about Love.

He didn't.

Maybe it was a miscalculation. Maybe it was a designed plan, knowing that if he chides the media, most fans will side with him, because, well, the fans don't care about the media and care a lot about James. Maybe he remembers the conversation differently. Maybe it's like "The Prestige" and there's one LeBron making the comments and another LeBron tweeting. 

James, despite the enormous media circus that has followed him since he was 15, has always been up front and mostly fair with the media. Jerking them around is not really his style. The guy's not Russell Westbrook. It just seems like there's a weird situation around the Cavaliers (again) and no real way to figure out what the actual story is. Only James and Love know that.