NBA News - 'I'm Still in Win Mode': Why LeBron Is Unstoppable—but the Cavs Are in Trouble

Beyond the memes, the Sultan of Subtweets tells B/R Mag that this year is different. But is it Cleveland's twilight, or just a sluggish start? We hit the road with a struggling squad to find out. It was 10:30 a.m., Texas time, when LeBron James strolled into the Dallas Mavericks' arena for a recent shootaround. In his mouth was a black plastic spoon.

But the King was not eating.  No, his teeth were clenched firmly around the handle, leaving the round end an impractical distance from his mouth.  What could it all mean?  Was LeBron angry? Frustrated? Concerned? Was the empty spoon a symbolic plea? Dear basketball gods, please deliver a second helping of All-Star playmaking.  Or, you know, maybe he'd just polished off a strawberry yogurt parfait on the team bus. It's possible.

But this is LeBron, the NBA's Sultan of Subtweets, and these are the drama-loving Cleveland Cavaliers—who had the league's sixth-worst record at the time of their Dallas stopover last Saturday—and so we must parse every gesture, quip and sideways glance, every tweet and Instagram story and every last utensil.

Each time, James left for a better roster.  All of which underscores what is really at stake.  James will be a free agent next summer and is noncommittal about his future. Team executives across the league believe he's leaving—though there's a palpable gap between belief and actual knowledge. The reality is, no one knows.  It leaves the Cavaliers franchise in a profound pickle: Do everything possible to win a championship now, trading draft picks for immediate help? Or retain all assets and plan for a post-LeBron future?