CLEVELAND — Everything changed at 8:05 p.m. on July 1. The Twitter account for Klutch Sports Group sent out a press release. It was just one sentence for immediate release, followed by the customary three pound signs signifying that no further copy would be disseminated.
LeBron James was heading to Los Angeles and would be signing a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers. What seemed likely (after all, Vegas had taken James' free-agent odds off the board to limit any potential risk) was still a shock. The feel-good story of 2014 had come to an end, and James' next chapter was about to be written, the foreword being little more than 36 words from a sparsely active Twitter account.