When Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship in 2016, it was not just about a team’s first NBA title. It was not about a team making a historic comeback or it was not as much about anything else as much it was about a man fulfilling his promise. LeBron James could hardly speak after the title win- his third. He had fulfilled a promise. It was the emotion that surrounded what was then the Oracle Arena.

LeBron James might still have been there if Cavaliers had not won the Championship, feels Richard Jefferson

Four years on, James is hunting his fourth NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers. While the coronavirus pandemic stands as an obstacle to his quest, his title-winning teammate Richard Jefferson looked back at the incredible victory back in 2016.

In an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Jefferson and the host discussed what might have happened had the Cavaliers not achieved. Jefferson felt James might have still been in Cleveland.

“I think for him (James) it was so, so important to win a championship in Cleveland,” Jefferson said. “He could still possibly be there.

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“But I believe that, again, you look at the injuries in the first year with Kyrie [Irving] and Kevin Love, I believe that ultimately, wherever the dominoes would have fallen, I think Cleveland would have won a championship over the course of those four years (that James was playing for the Cavs).”

After saying LeBron might have left, Jefferson added a “we’ll never know,” in the end as if to suggest it was LeBron and he couldn’t be sure of it.

It was memorable finals series for LeBron, who had also won his third finals MVP. He had scored his seventh NBA finals triple double in Game 7 with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, apart from three blocked shots and two steals.