Cavs Owner Blasts LeBron for 'Betrayal'

Dan Gilbert was not, it turns out, a fan of LeBron James’ big ESPN special. The Cleveland Cavaliers owner posted an open letter brimming with vitriol toward, in his words, “our former hero” on the team’s website last night. He called LeBron’s move a “cowardly betrayal” that came after “a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating in a national TV special…unlike anything ever ‘witnessed’ in the history of sports.”

Then, righteously hitting the caps-lock key, he wrote, “I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE,” saying he was more motivated than ever before. “This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown ‘chosen one’ sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn.” But Gilbert sees one silver lining: He believes that if Cleveland was cursed, “the self-declared former ‘King’ will be taking the ‘curse’ with him.” (More LeBron James stories.)