NBA Rumors: Cavaliers to 'Go Hard' After LeBron James Under This One Condition

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season (64-18), but came up short once again in the playoffs in this current iteration of the team.

But in 2025-26, they'll have no excuses. The Boston Celtics will be without Jayson Tatum, the Indiana Pacers won't have Tyrese Haliburton all season, and the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are in some disarray with question marks surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, respectively, for different reasons. Yes, the New York Knicks will still be a team to be reckoned with, no doubt.

But for Cleveland, this is a make-or-break year. And per Ashish Mathur of Cavaliers Nation, a league executive projects one huge change if they don't bring home the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2026:

I’ll tell you this right now: If the Cavaliers don’t win it all next season, I can see them going hard after LeBron. Everyone knows (owner) Dan (Gilbert) wants to win a title without him, but if they can’t, adding LeBron to that group would be a cheat code. I know he’ll be 42, but it’s LeBron. He will always be an elite force.

LeBron James is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the season, as he's playing out an expiring $52.6 million deal this year with the LA Lakers.

King James, of course, took his hometown team in Ohio to the NBA championship once before, in 2016, Cleveland's first-ever NBA title. That was in his second go-round with the team, after they drafted him first overall in 2003 and he spent the first seven years of his career there before 'taking his talents' to South Beach, only to return again from 2014 through 2018.

The Cavs have been running with an elite Core Four for the past three seasons of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. Adding LeBron to that mix would be a formidable starting lineup.