LeBron’s original Decision seems like it happened an eternity ago, but perhaps the biggest change to the NBA since that pivotal offseason has been the gradual demise of the Los Angeles Lakers. When James chose to ditch Cleveland for Miami, Phil Jackson’s Lakers were two-time defending champions, and Bryant had just won consecutive Finals MVP awards.
Bryant’s text to James in the summer of 2010 is classic Kobe.
Via Bleacher Report:
With a brutal seven-game victory over the Celtics in the bank for Bryant, the 2010 offseason is dominated by LeBron James’ decision to leave Cleveland for Miami.
What matters to Bryant is Phil Jackson agreeing to return to coach the Lakers again in pursuit of a third consecutive NBA title. Bryant sends James a text message. It goes like this:
“Go ahead and get another MVP, if you want. And find the city you want to live in. But we’re going to win the championship. Don’t worry about it.”
Derrick Rose beat out James in MVP voting that year, but LeBron led the Miami to the Finals in his first season with the Heat. The Lakers did keep Jackson around and went 57-25 in the regular season, but were swept by the Mavericks in the conference semifinals.
Source: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/08/kobe-bryant-lebron-james-text-the-decision
