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After the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off their win late on Monday night, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade came together for one of the cooler moments of this young NBA season. After 16 years of building a relationship either on the same team or competing against each other, they exchanged jerseys and spoke about their incredible run.
Everyone watching all over the world took in the scene with a collectively “awww.” But then, New York Knicks fans received quite the kick to the nether region, courtesy of World Wide Wob.
HOLD UP a second...
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 11, 2018
After Wade says “I appreciate you letting it end here,”
LeBron says “it was either here or at the Garden.”
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME @nyknicks!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/yJFzthxgJO
Poor Knicks fans. Poor, poor Knicks fans. You have what is wrongfully widely seen as the greatest basketball venue in the world — the sport’s Mecca. And yet, because James Dolan exists, they can’t utilize the advantage that building and the city it exists in comes with.
It got better, though, as Windhorst chimed in with his couple of informed cents.
He was PROBABLY always going to go to LA. But after the way Phil treated Melo, it was sealed.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) December 11, 2018
Phil Jackson deserves a statue in front of Staples Center now for that alone.
But while all that was fun, on Tuesday mornin, the story took a somewhat expected turn, as Joe Vardon of the Athletic backed up some of what Windhorst said and reported that James never really seriously considered signing in New York.
According to multiple sources close to James, he meant that a final meeting with Wade was so special, it could only be held at a venue like Staples Center or Madison Square Garden — two history-rich arenas in the the glitziest and most glamorous cities in the NBA.
James left the Cavaliers as a free agent in July. While James adores playing at Madison Square Garden, has enjoyed some of his best games there, and may have given the franchise a harder look if it had been in better shape organizationally, he actually considered the Lakers (likely his first choice all along), Cavs (who he’d taken to four straight Finals) and the Sixers.
Does this make this less painful for Knicks fans? More? Either way, the only takeaway here is to feel sorry for Knicks fans. Poor, poor Knicks fans.