And now the lobe has been...

Well, well, well.

If it isn't one of our favorite NBA traditions,

LeBron James stirring the pot with some passive aggressive jabs,

LeBron put the entire Lakers brain trust on notice,

which is kind of funny because LeBron and his inner circle

are very much members of that brain trust and played a huge role

in the Lakers decision to trade almost everything they had left

for Russell Westbrook.

LeBron used all-star to take obvious passive aggressive

digs at the Lakers and Rob Polinka's passivity at the trade deadline.

He even told Jason Lloyd of the Athletic that he is not close the door

on a potential return to Cleveland.

Coincidentally, LeBron's current deal expires at the same moment

as Kevin loves and before Evan Mobile is inevitable,

Max Deal kicks in.

There's a window there, which is interesting because Darius Garland,

this season, has talked openly about the young calves building a legacy

separate from LeBron and how proud they are of that,

and you can rest assured by the way that up and down the calves organization,

they are proud of that too.

I've even seen some very plugged in reporters say the calves might not be stoked

...