It was theorized that James’ discovery of the affair between his teammate and friend and his own mother before game 4 explained his relatively lethargic play in the last three games of the series, all shocking Cavs blowout losses. It was almost assumed that James and the Cavs, at the very least, would represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA championship series.
Thus far, no evidence has surfaced to elevate the topic of an affair from mere innuendo. The rumor started when BBC’s website published the words of Terez Owens, who purported that he had a source inside Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who learned that James discovered this illicit affair; still, no credible evidence has been uncovered by Owens nor any other source.
Despite that, however, the rumor raced through cyberspace at top speed, becoming the second-most searched topic on Google Trends by Friday evening. The topic was still number 9 midway through Saturday.
No newspaper, radio or television station in Northeast Ohio made any mention of the rumor, which is understandable, because no one there wants to further irritate James, a two-time league MVP who is a free agent and can choose to leave his hometown area (he was born and raised in Akron and plays in nearby Cleveland) for a sexier franchise in a larger market.
It is widely believed that if James leaves the Cavs, the franchise, which has contended for a title for the past four years, would collapse into oblivion and total irrelevance. –terry shropshire
