LeBron James made history on Monday, as the school he built in his hometown of Akron, Ohio opened up. The "I Promise" school was born out of an collaboration between LeBron's foundation and the Akron Public School system, and will serve hundreds of children in the Akron area. LeBron called the opening of the school "one of the greatest moments in my life."
But amid all of the celebration for LeBron's accomplishment, there was an interesting nugget he slipped in during one of his many interviews throughout the day. When asked about Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's statement that he'll retire LeBron's jersey, James said, via The Associated Press' Tom Withers, that he wasn't aware of that. But he also wouldn't shut the door on a possible return to the Cavaliers at some point in the future.
Via the AP:
As far as basketball, the 33-year-old superstar said the decision to leave Cleveland again was difficult, but he didn't rule out a second homecoming with the Cavaliers.
"Listen, I don't close the chapter on anything or close the book on anything," James said when asked if he would return to Cleveland to end his career. "But hopefully I can sit there one day and watch my jersey go up into the rafters, that's for sure."
LeBron, of course, left the Cavaliers this summer to sign a four-year, $154M deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. So if he does plan on one day playing for the Cavs again, it won't be for a while. Also, it's obviously hard to know how much stock to put into this.
Was he just paying lip service to the city and trying to be nice on an uplifting day? Or does he really envision closing out his career in a Cavaliers uniform. Given his ties to the area, which now include his first school in Akron, it wouldn't be shocking if LeBron was one day drawn back.
But again, any such reunion is at least three years down the line, and as we've seen, the NBA world can be flipped upside down in a shorter time than that. So we'll just have to wait and see.
