CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's time to have a discussion about LeBron James' Twitter account.

It's a talk we all need. Maybe LeBron, too.

On Monday, some time before he was simply brilliant on the court against the Denver Nuggets, where he posted his 41st career triple-double and the Cavs won easily 124-91, James unfollowed his own team on Twitter.

There are at least 28.9 million of you who care about this, at least a little. Because you're among those who follow the Cavs' superstar on the social media site.

For the select few who are reading this story on the Internet but are not among James' followers, to "unfollow" someone means to willfully (unless, of course, you accidentally hit the button) cut off your own access to James' 140-character messages.

To "unfollow" can be a sign of waning interest. Perhaps a slight. Maybe, as previously mentioned, an accident.

In the world of LeBron James, arguably the most scrutinized of our pro athletes - and by "our," I mean, earthlings - his unfollowing of the Cavs was bound to be noticed.

And it was, within a matter of hours. The Cavs knew it, nearly instantly. They didn't know why he did it, didn't ask him, but they weren't exactly comfortable with it, either.

Almost immediately, speculation outside The Q began that this was another cryptic message from James on Twitter - and there's been a lot of those this month - signaling his intention to potentially leave Cleveland for a second time, which he could theoretically do this summer by opting out of his two-year, $47 million contract this summer and becoming a free agent.

According to a source close to James who discussed the matter with him Monday night, that's not why James unfollowed the Cavs. He did it as part of his process to prepare for the playoffs.

There is precedence for this. James puts away all forms of social media once the playoffs begin, to cut all distractions and sharpen his own focus on the task ahead. He calls it Zero Dark 23. He did it last year.

James' unfollowing of the Cavs was sort of a preamble, the source said. He's starting to pare down some of the "noise" without shutting off his account entirely.

James didn't just unfollow @cavs - the official Twitter account of the team for which he's supposed to deliver a championship.

He also unfollowed Allie Clifton, the team's sideline reporter for Fox Sports Ohio, with whom he's had a cordial, friendly, professional relationship for two seasons.

James also unfollowed the Twitter account of Austin Carr, the Cavs' in-game analyst for Fox and a team legend, whom James admires. He parted ways with the account of ESPN Cavs reporter Dave McMenamin, and NBA reporter Chris Broussard, and Sports Illustrated'd Lee Jenkins. It was to Jenkins whom James dictated his essay announcing his return to Cleveland in the summer of 2014.

In all, James unfollowed 14 accounts recently - he's down to 153 from 167. According to the source close to James, most were NBA media types and basketball-related accounts.

Though, for full disclosure, James still follows several NBA players, including teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, as well as NBA TV's Kristen Ledlow and ESPN's Rachel Nichols, Hannah Storm, and Michael Wilbon.

At any rate, the Cavs' front office and fans of James and the organization should be at ease.

He's not deliberately trying to poison the locker room and the team's playoff hopes with a few clicks of a button. Of course he isn't.

Rather, he's beginning his process to get ready for what could be his sixth consecutive Finals berth. That hasn't been done since the 1960s.

Think of what James did in the playoffs last season. He averaged 30.1 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 8.5 assists for the postseason, dragging the Cavs to two wins in the Finals (not to mention a series sweep of Atlanta in the conference finals) while his wingmen dropped left and right with injury.

James is getting ready to try and do that again. So the rest of us should relax. But we're not the only ones at fault.

I asked James near the end of his press conference after Monday night's game why he unfollowed the Cavs. After three seconds of silence, he said "next question."

He didn't offer the apparently real explanation. He could've blamed it on a personal staffer for doing it on accident. Heck, maybe he was hacked?

James was surely aware of the interest in his account, and of the unfollow. He also know about the multiple, psychological complexes that exist among sports fans here: one, about not winning a pro sports title in 50 years; the other, about him maybe leaving again.

Think about what he's done the past month on Twitter, offering a string of cryptic Tweets without explanation that could have easily been directed at teammates or hints about his future plans.

Or maybe his Tweets were no such thing. But he never explained them, and he knew the controversy they caused.

Also, for the first time in two seasons since returning to Cleveland, James chose not to speak to reporters at shootaround.

As I explained in my game story on Monday night, NBA guidelines suggest that all players either talk to reporters at shootaround or in the 30-minute period in which the locker room is open to the press before each game.

The guideline is ignored all the time, including at times by Cavs players. Except for James. Until Monday, he had never skipped a media session at shootaround unless he was: A.) Sick, and at home; B.) Wasn't playing that night.

So he picks this day, of all days, the first time he's in the same room with the media since the immediate aftermath of a terrible, 21-point loss to his old team in Miami Saturday night, to decline to talk.

And then he fires the unfollow heard round the world.

At a time when the noise surrounding the Cavs is nearly unending - there's chemistry issues, they'll never beat the Warriors, does LeBron want to go back to Miami, Kyrie hates it here - perhaps everything that happened Monday was the start of James simply trying to get out of his own head.

He surely played like it. Thirty-three points. Eleven rebounds. Eleven assists.

But James has done at least as much damage with his Tweets this season as the unfortunate few he's unfollowed.