The Lakers, the Cavaliers, and LeBron’s most impressive season to date
IF THE BUZZER-BEATING 3 in Game 5 of the first round of the 2018 playoffs against the Indiana Pacers, the fast-break bank shot to clinch Game 3 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ second-round series against the Toronto Raptors, and the 51/8/8 stat line in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors represent LeBron James’ standout moments in what he describes as his finest season, then his display in Game 2 of the second round should undoubtedly be regarded as a hidden treasure.
After securing a narrow overtime win on the road against the top-seeded Raptors to kick off the Eastern Conference semifinals, James demonstrated in the subsequent game why the Cavaliers — who finished the regular season with nine fewer victories than Toronto — were not truly underdogs.
On his way to 43 points, 8 rebounds, and 14 assists (with only one turnover), James became a midrange sharpshooter, skillfully exploiting the gaps in the Raptors’ defense rather than relying solely on his physical strength.
“I remember sitting there on the bench having a very real moment of, ‘I’ll never see anything like this ever again,'” Cavs center Larry Nance Jr. shared with ESPN. Nance had joined Cleveland at the trade deadline that year and was part of its unexpected journey to the Finals. “And there’s never been anything like that ever again, and there won’t be, really.”
James converted 8-of-12 jump shots in that game — marking his highest shooting percentage on jumpers in a playoff game over the past decade, according to GeniusIQ tracking — including pull-ups, fadeaways, and catch-and-shoot attempts from various spots on the court.
“It was showcasing the full evolution of his game and the finesse at that moment, along with his awareness of where double teams were coming from,” Nance added. “If I’m the Raptors, I’m thrilled he’s taking those shots. But he’s just demonstrating: ‘There’s nothing you can do.’ And, man, it was incredible.”
James and the Cavaliers did not secure the championship that season. Additionally, James did not receive one of his four MVP awards. Nevertheless, the 23-year veteran reflects on the 2017-18 season with appreciation, stating last month on his podcast that it was “the best season that I had.”
No one can predict whether James’ return to Cleveland with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday will be his final appearance. However, there are parallels between this Lakers season and the last one in which he donned a Cavaliers uniform, with James still dedicated to personal excellence while facing the uncertainty that is causing turmoil for his current team.
THAT DYNAMIC for those 2017-18 Cavaliers began three months prior to the season’s commencement.
To summarize: Following the Cavaliers’ loss to the Warriors in the 2017 Finals, Kyrie Irving requested a trade from Cleveland in July.
The Cavs, as reported by sources to ESPN, had already contemplated a deal to send star forward Kevin Love to the Pacers in exchange for Paul George before the talented guard expressed his desire to leave, and Cleveland initially attempted to wait out Irving’s request.
Eventually, sources indicated, with Irving’s camp hinting at a possible knee procedure if he remained with the Cavs through training camp, Cleveland traded him to Eastern Conference rival, the Boston Celtics, in August. Irving had just come off a Finals performance in which he averaged 29.4 points against one of the greatest teams ever assembled in Golden State.
Cleveland’s return from the trade was lackluster: an All-Star in Isaiah Thomas, who was recovering from hip surgery; a role player in Jae Crowder; an untested big man in Ante Zizic; and the Brooklyn Nets’ unprotected first-round pick for 2018.
The Cavs were coming off three consecutive Finals appearances. James had personally reached seven in a row, dating back to his time with the Miami Heat.
The Brooklyn pick became a contentious issue behind the scenes. James and his representatives sought every possible advantage to contend for a championship. Meanwhile, the Cavs informed them that the franchise needed to retain the pick for a rebuild — unless, of course, James agreed to a contract extension.
This deadlock — and the resulting tension — persisted throughout the season.
New Cleveland general manager Koby Altman opted to bring in veteran players on short-term contracts instead: Jose Calderon, Jeff Green, Derrick Rose, and Dwyane Wade.
“I don’t know what you would call that team, like, the misfit team,” a Cavs source remarked to ESPN.
Against this backdrop, James approached the podium at the Cavs’ annual media day in September 2017, picked up the microphone, and addressed reporters: “Before we get started, there are like five different topics, six different topics that we want to discuss … Kyrie, that issue — if it is an issue; to my new teammates; to my free agency next summer; to my feelings about the team and the upcoming season …”
He responded to inquiries for over 40 minutes.
THE ONE CONSTANT was his performance.
On opening night, James recorded 29 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 assists as the Cavs triumphed over the Celtics, with Irving’s first game in green and white overshadowed by Boston’s Gordon Hayward suffering a severe ankle injury.
Cleveland faced various challenges that season:
Thomas missed the first 36 games of the season while recovering from his hip injury; Rose took an unexcused leave of absence to travel to Mexico; star forward Kevin Love experienced a panic attack during halftime of a game against the Hawks, which ultimately led him to advocate for mental health; Wade’s longtime agent, Henry Thomas, unexpectedly passed away midseason; and Tristan Thompson became the focus of tabloid headlines regarding his personal life.
Despite these obstacles, the Cavs remained competitive due to James’ contributions.
“I think it was the convergence of, obviously, his elite athleticism, his playmaking skills, and his ability to read defenses on both ends of the floor,” Love told ESPN. “That athleticism, sure. I’m saying on the other side of that, his skill and basketball IQ were all just aligning at the same time.”
And James accomplished something he had never done in his first 15 seasons: play all 82 games.
“He was very consistent in affirming that he would play all 82,” Love noted. “He kept saying it: ‘I’m going to put it all out there. I’m going to play all 82.’
When Thomas returned to the lineup, the Cavs hit a rough patch, going 6-13 from Christmas Day until just before the trade deadline.
James participated in every game, and his statistics remained largely unchanged, but that extra spark was absent.
“LeBron wasn’t himself, obviously,” a Cavs source stated.
The night before the trade deadline, James erupted for 37 points on 16-of-22 shooting, along with 15 assists and 10 rebounds, playing 48 minutes and 19 seconds, hitting the game-winner in overtime against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The following day, Altman traded away six players and a future first-round pick in a series of three transactions to completely revamp the roster.
The Cavs acquired George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Nance, while parting ways with Thomas, Crowder, Wade, Rose, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, and their own 2018 first-round pick.
One of those trades involved the Lakers — which created just enough cap space for L.A. to sign James as a free agent a few months later.
Even so, one Cavs source remarked, “The thing I think about with that trade deadline is, the best acquisition we got was, we got LeBron James back.”
James concluded the season averaging 29.2 points on 53.4% shooting, 9.8 rebounds, and 9.8 assists, while the Cavs finished 19-10 with a virtually entirely new roster surrounding him.
He led the Cavs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks for the season — marking the second time he topped his team in all five categories. He recorded 18 triple-doubles, the most in a season of his career. He led the league in minutes per game and total points.
“If you ask me what was the best season that I had, where I felt the most complete as a basketball player, I would say 2018,” James stated last month on an episode of his podcast, “Mind the Game,” with co-host Steve Nash.
“[The] 2017-18 season, I felt like I could do no wrong out there on the basketball floor. Offensively, defensively, I felt no flaws in my game.”
“I felt every time I stepped out on the floor, I really could do everything I wanted to do,” James continued. “All three levels. Defensively, guard all three levels. I mean, I still feel that way, but it was just another level of that in 2017-18, with the team that we had. That season right there, I felt like that was probably my most complete season.”
JAMES’ REMARKABLE PRODUCTION only intensified in the playoffs.
His 748 postseason points were the second highest in league history, trailing only Michael Jordan’s 759 in 1992. James scored or assisted on 1,230 points, the most in an NBA postseason. He accumulated eight 40-point games across the 22 he played, tying Jerry West’s 1965 record for the most 40-point games in a postseason.
“The playoffs came and he just put on his cape,” a Cavs source remarked.
Among the aforementioned standout moments was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference in Boston, where he played all 48 minutes and recorded 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists to advance to his eighth consecutive Finals.
“He was just so confident,” Nance told ESPN. “Indiana took us to seven, Boston took us to seven, but I don’t think there was anybody in the locker room [who] felt any real pressure because, yeah, we got him.”
James then led the Cavs into Game 1 of the Finals and — aside from JR Smith’s blunder at the end of regulation — would have won the game if not for being called for a block on Golden State’s Kevin Durant with 36 seconds remaining, resulting in two points for the Warriors instead of a turnover.
“I believe that was a missed block/charge call,” Nance stated. “I think that changes the series drastically.”
Love shared his perspective on the incident.
“Then having it get reviewed and it gets overturned by Ed Malloy,” Love said. “Yeah … sure.”
James struck the whiteboard in the visitors’ locker room after that loss and injured his hand, leading to the Cavs ultimately being swept.
As Love recalled, “I remember him just putting his hand right in the ice bath and thinking to myself, ‘OK, well, this is likely it.’
JAMES AND THE CAVS do not possess a championship to show for the 2017-18 season, and the turmoil of the year was felt by all involved.
James is currently in his eighth season with the Lakers — his longest uninterrupted tenure with a team in his career — but his future in Los Angeles remains uncertain, with his contract set to expire at the end of the season and the franchise poised to move forward with Luka Doncic as its star for both the present and future.
Multiple team and league sources informed ESPN that the Cavaliers would eagerly welcome James back this summer if he wished to return to Cleveland for his 24th NBA season and third stint with the franchise.
There is no way to predict the journey the Lakers could still undertake this spring, especially if James can rediscover that cape. While James is eight years older, he has demonstrated a similar dedication to this season’s Lakers team, sources indicated. He missed the first 14 games due to sciatica. However, James ceased alcohol consumption during his rehabilitation and has significantly slimmed down, aiming to alleviate pressure on his back and joints and to “keep up with the young guys,” he stated.
“We weren’t supposed to make it that far,” Love reflected on those 2017-18 Cavs. “I mean, you look at the makeup of that team and the inexperience, even more so. It wasn’t a team that really had enough of a supporting cast to make it to that level.
“But because LeBron took us there and put us on his shoulders, we were able to get to that point.”
And perhaps, here in 2026, his presence in Cleveland on Wednesday can provide both teams a glimpse of that 2017-18 experience.
“It’s going to be a circus, and it is just a regular-season game,” a Cavs source told ESPN. “But when he comes, it feels like a Finals game.”
ESPN’s Matt Williams contributed to this story.
