Why LeBron James should demand a public apology from Dan Gilbert

With his Heat future still up in the air, the prospect of LeBron James returning to the Cavaliers has gained steam in recent days. The reunion would be a great story for James, the NBA, and of course for long suffering fans in Cleveland.

But NFL Hall of Famer and Cleveland sports legend Jim Brown reiterated a point many of us have been discussing since talk of a possible Cavs reunion began, and that's that James shouldn't go back to Cleveland without a public apology from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

"There's got to be a public apology made by the owner. I don't see it any other way," Brown said via the Pioneer Press.

If you recall, four years ago today, after James made his decision to take his talents to South Beach public, Gilbert published that now infamous comic sans letter to "Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters" everywhere.

It was bad enough that most of the basketball world turned on James for exercising his right as a free agent through a television special that generated a reported $6 million for charity, let alone to then see a butt-hurt billionaire's childish takedown of James go viral.

Gilbert called James exercising that right on live television, which saw $2.5 million of the proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Club of America, by the way, a "cowardly betrayal," a "shameful display of selfishness," and a "shocking act of disloyalty...that sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And who we would want them to grow-up to become."

In addition to guaranteeing the Cavs would win a championship "before the self-titled former king," Gilbert also added, in ridiculous fashion, that "Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there."

As long as he was willing to admit that remaining on a Cavs team run by Gilbert was the equivalent of basketball death.

From the day he stepped onto an NBA court as an 18-year-old phenom and for the seven years that followed, James single handedly carried the Cavaliers to new heights. Cleveland went 17-65 the year before LeBron arrived, won 35 games in his Rookie of the Year season, won 42-to-50 games in the next four seasons, and then won an NBA-best 127 games (66 in 2008-09, 61 in 09-10) over his final two seasons in Cleveland despite a mediocre supporting cast - at best - around James.

He dragged a surefire lottery roster past the vastly superior Pistons and into The Finals in 2007, won two MVP awards in his seven seasons in Cleveland, and put together some of the greatest individual seasons the NBA has seen or ever will see. Over his last three seasons with the Cavs, James averaged a Player Efficiency Rating above 30, as he actually has over the last seven seasons now. As a reference, only seven players in league history have ever posted a 30-plus PER season. His 20.3 Win Shares in 2008-09 remains the seventh and last 20-plus Win Share season the league has seen (Wilt, Jordan and David Robinson have the other six).

No wonder LeBron realized he needed help. He was playing at a level maybe a handful of basketball players in history have ever played at, and yet he still couldn't climb to the top of the championship mountain, because Gilbert's organization continually failed to surround him with a capable supporting cast.

The Cavs have been helped by an unfathomable amount of lottery luck in the four years post-James and should have something promising brewing with Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie Irving, but the fact that they've needed all that lottery luck is another indication of how poorly the franchise has been run from a basketball standpoint under Gilbert, who can't seem to stay out of his own way.

James was and maybe still is Cleveland's only hope so long as Gilbert remains atop the Cavaliers organization, but the owner dragged him through the mud for accurately predicting Pat Riley, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would give him a better chance at glory. Now Gilbert and co. expect him to just come back and save the day like nothing happened?

Imagine if a player wrote a venomous public letter about a "disloyal" owner after being traded. How childish and ungrateful would that seem? And would the owner ever accept that player back without a public apology?

The public component is important here, too. Gilbert didn't just call James up to privately scold him over the phone four years ago. If his petty attack needed to be publicized then, his apology should need to be now.

Some may say that Gilbert welcoming James back and paying him maximum dollars would be apology enough, but this isn't some over the hill veteran in need of one last payday we're talking about. James can get his money from virtually anywhere, it's been well documented that a maximum salary actually prevents him from earning his true on and off-court value, and Gilbert would recoup all of that money owed to James and then some in profits thanks to James' presence on the team alone. ESPN's Darren Rovell estimates that James could be worth over $160 million to the Heat over the next three years, for example.

The four-year, $90 million-plus contract Gilbert, who Forbes estimates is worth $3.8 billion, can offer James is all well and good, but we'll take an actual apology, thanks.

In completely freezing the free agent market while he contemplates his latest decision, LeBron James has already wielded his power this off-season. If he's considering the Cavaliers as part of said decision, he should wield that power further by demanding a public apology from Dan Gilbert before proceeding.