For years now, a popular narrative has been that LeBron James functions not only as the best player on his team, but also as the real general manager, assuming a significant role in any and all personnel changes.
Ex-Cavaliers GM David Griffin dismissed that notion on NBA TV‘s The Starters:
It’s not true at all. He doesn’t want to have that role. He doesn’t really want to do those things. He is obsessed with winning basketball games. What he wanted to do was lead the guys in the locker room and be as good as he can possibly be. He spends more time on his body and getting himself mentally and physically right than any player I’ve ever seen.
The reason people perceive that is because he was on one-year deals, because he is the best player of his generation, and the natural assumption is they won’t do anything to upset him. So if they do that, he must want that. The reality is there were several things we did because it was the right thing to do. And certainly I would go to him and ‘Listen, this is why we’re going to do that.’ Just as I did with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving…There was never a time where LeBron said ‘I want X, Y, Z.’
