LeBron James wields an enormous amount of power inside the NBA. Entering this offseason as a free agent, James had essentially all the leverage with any team that pursued him.
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On top of that, his decision to wait until July 11 to announce his decision to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers held up countless other free agent signings, as teams needed to remain financially flexible with the prospects of James choosing their city remained.
But James might have even more power than we think because, as CBS’ Gregg Doyel points out, LeBron’s decision to return home could, incredibly enough, impact the results of the 2016 presidential election, as an NBA Finals game in Cleveland could conflict with the Republican National Convention taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena.
Doyel writes:
"LeBron’s presence in Cleveland probably will force the Republican National Convention to delay its 2016 convention by three weeks, meaning three fewer weeks for the presumed GOP nominee to become the actual GOP nominee. Three fewer weeks of access to presidential campaign cash. Three fewer weeks of having the spotlight to himself.Three fewer weeks to convince voters to pick him and not Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or whomever the Democrats nominate. (And they’re going to nominate Hillary.)This column is not written as a joke, either. This is really happening. LeBron James’ return to Cleveland is going to make its mark on the 2016 presidential election in one way or another, the least of which would be if the 2016 RNC Convention is hastily thrown together because the Cavaliers are in the NBA Finals, making Quicken Loans Arena off limits to the RNC until roughly a week before its preferred convention date of June 28."
Doyel also cites a CBS News piece that suggests a three-week delay could cost “tens of millions of dollars in general election cash.”
As strange is this sounds, there is a good chance the Cavs are playing in the finals in 2016 with James now in the fold, and it’s clear that there are pretty substantial ramifications to that.
To really flex his power, James might just want to consider running for president himself.