LeBron James, Lakers to face Cleveland Cavaliers next

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Cavaliers have had already been on five matchups since 2019. At that time, LeBron James was already with Los Angeles Lakers. Within the five games, the Lakers won four. Now, the Lakers and Cavaliers are back to go against each other, but the question lies on who will bring home the win on Monday night.

Despite the Lakers’ struggling performance and officially being in the 10th in the Western Conference, Lakers fans obviously hope that the Lakers can do as good as they were before against the Cavaliers. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers who host the game, are now in the 6th in the eastern conference. Playing around former teammates will certainly impact James’ performance, perhaps positively or negatively.

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— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 20, 2022

LeBron’s history with Cavs

King James played with Cleveland Cavaliers from 2003-2010 and 2014-2018. In total, the four-time NBA Champion played with the team for 11 years. He will always be remembered for his leading role against the Golden State Warriors in achieving the Cavaliers’ only NBA title in 2016.

“We will always remember the evening of June 19, 2016, as the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, ended the 52-year drought, delivering the long-elusive championship that many thought they would never see,” owner Dan Gilbert said to the media.

The four-time NBA Finals MVP was the Cav’s all-time leader when he left to sign with the Lakers in the 2017-18 free agency scoring 23,119 points, 6,190 rebounds, and 6,228 assists in 849 games. He also had 1,376 steals, 1,251 3-pointers, 5,130 free throws, as well as 64 triple-doubles.

While James always had big dreams since he was still a child, he thought that going to the Lakers was a huge shot, referring that he wanted to take the footstep of the Lakers legend and Hall of Famer Magic Johson.

“If I’m going to leave Cleveland again,” James told a confidant leading up to this decision, according to a person familiar with their conversation, “it needs to be like what I dreamt of as a kid.”

In 2018, he decided to sign with the Lakers under Rob Pelinka’s management team. James has told the media that whatever happens, he’ll “continue to be in championship mode.”

Cavaliers. Lakers’ rivalry

On January 14, 2019, the Cavs won by six points against the Lakers with 101-95, with top scorer and forward players, Cedi Osman and Rodney Hood scoring 20 and 18 respectively. Unfortunately, Hood is no longer with the Cavs, but with the Clippers.

In the exact a year after, the Cavs hosted another game against the Lakers but lost to 99-128. Since that year in 2020, the Lakers have won the games and James is someone to be thankful for as he is always one of the top scorers of the Lakers.

Now in 36,947 points, the Lakers small forward is closing in all-time basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387. Despite the team’s declining performance, he stood strong in his belief that his team is still able to catch up with the playoffs.

Meanwhile, both the Cavaliers and the Lakers have been encompassed by injured players. From the Lakers, the team is missing forward/center Anthony Davis due to a right ankle sprain, point guard Kendrick Nunn due to a right knee bone bruise, and shooting guard Wayne Ellington due to illness.

For the Cavs, the team is missing guard Rajon Rondo due to sprained toe and forward Dean Wade due to knee injury as well as center Jarrett Allen due to a broken finger.

LeBron James

LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . Nicknamed “King James”, (wikipedia)

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. (wikipedia)