Contrary to the speculations and collective belief of thousands of social media pundits, LeBron James isn’t the one making front office decisions for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs’ hiring of a new general manager in Koby Altman has done little to silence those who harbor acute theories that it’s James who’s pulling the levers for Cleveland.
Former Cavs GM David Griffin, who parted ways with the team earlier this summer, perhaps have heard so much about it that he felt he had to say something during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump”.
“To be clear, he does not want to coach, he does not want to be the GM. This is a guy trying to win championships. Being a full-time MVP caliber player is a job in and of itself. I think it’s perception more than reality.”
Having said all of that, Griffin did say that the team’s upper management would sometimes seek for James’ opinion. As Griffin implied on the show, James was so much ahead of everyone in terms of talent and basketball intelligence that not picking the brain of the four-time league MVP with regards to personnel decisions would be a missed opportunity .
“LeBron’s a basketball savant and you’re not doing your job if you don’t talk to him about players,” Griffin said. “You have to do that because he knows more than most of us do. So from that standpoint he was a great partner.”
Griffin’s words could also be taken as a form of advice for Altman, who now runs the show behind a desk in Cleveland. Whether Altman heeds to that is something that remains to be seen.