Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 reasons LeBron James should re-sign

2. Ohio is home

It’s tough to leave home.

Professionally, LeBron has done it once before. Eight years ago, he left the state in which he’d been born and raised and lived and worked for the first 25 years of his life to go play with his friends and win championships in Miami.

After four years and two NBA championships, he came back home and led the Cavs to the franchise’s first championship, ending the city of Cleveland’s drought of major pro sports titles that went back to 1964.

Now, facing another career crossroads, does he have it in him to leave home again?

Personally, he’s done it already. LeBron owns homes in Florida and California and spends his offseasons in various locations around the globe, as mega-stars tend to do. But earlier this week, LeBron created a stir when he changed his social media themes to a decidedly Akron, Ohio, look.

Some speculated that it was a hint he was staying home. Others opined it was his way of distancing himself from the Cavaliers by reminding the world that he’s from Akron, not Cleveland.

When LeBron left the Cavs in 2010, his hometown fans were hurt. And while some of their reactions were extreme, many sympathized with their pain, especially given the history of Cleveland sports back then.

This time, I believe the hometown fans would be more understanding and forgiving should LeBron leave. The Cleveland crowd showered him with “M-V-P” chants and a standing ovation during in the last game of the 2018 Finals, even in the face of so much talk that he was leaving. He brought them their championship, and anyone who knows the landscape of the NBA has to accept the likelihood that winning another one in Cleveland may not be possible.

Then again, the love that Ohio showed LeBron might be exactly what keeps him from leaving.