At one time, there were players lining up to get a chance to play alongside LeBron James. When LeBron left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, he lured Chris Bosh along to join forces with Dwyane Wade to win some titles. When he returned to Cleveland, he lured Kevin Love over to play with him. However, something has changed in recent years.
Players want to play against LeBron, not with him
Kyrie Irving leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers spotlighted a new trend in the NBA. When Kyrie asked the Cavaliers to trade him, he made it clear that he didn't want to play under LeBron's shadow anymore.
Instead, Kyrie wanted to lead his own team, knowing full well that he couldn't do that while standing in James' shadow.
There are still players who want to join LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, mostly older veterans like Derrick Rose who is looking for his first NBA little or Dwyane Wade, who wants the chance to win one more. However, players like Gordon Hayward, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant wanted no part of playing with LeBron, which made it hard for the Cavaliers to improve their team into a legitimate contender to the Golden State Warriors this season.
It now turns out that there was another lesser known player that chose not to join up with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
LeBron couldn't talk Spurs forward into joining Cavaliers
According to Orlando Magic small forward Jonathon Simmons, LeBron James tried to recruit him to join him with the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer. In response, Simmons had an interesting answer. Simmons said "no, I want to play against you" when answering LeBron.
Simmons, listed as a small forward with the Orlando Magic, is a 28-year-old third-year player who backs up Terrence Ross for the team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a small forward and have already switched from Dwyane Wade to JR Smith as the season progressed. Simmons left the San Antonio Spurs after last season and was looking for a place to make his mark in the NBA.
With Orlando, Jonathan Simmons has only started one game but averages an impressive 25.3 minutes from the bench and ranks fourth in Orlando with 15.0 points-per-game.
Add in 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists and he could have helped the Cavaliers this season. JR Smith is averaging 7.9 points while Dwyane Wade has a 9.0 point-per-game average.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Jonathan Simmons has one goal in the NBA - to be an elite player. Unfortunately for Cleveland Cavaliers fans watching their team struggle, Simmons decided he couldn't do it playing under LeBron James.
