LeBron James put his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates on notice both during an in-game timeout tirade and in the locker room after a second straight blowout loss, for good reason, but it may also be fair to start wondering who in Cleveland will put LeBron on notice. Or if Cavs coach Tyronn Lue just did.

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“If guys have agendas,” Lue told reporters after a 133-99 loss to the Toronto Raptors, “we’ve got to get rid of our agendas and play the right way.”

LeBron James and Tyronn Lue aren’t on the same page. (AP) More

Lue didn’t reference anybody specifically, but that didn’t stop reporters from asking around. Cavaliers guards Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade didn’t name any names, but they did sort of agree with Lue.

“We’re not playing for each other right now, offensively and defensively,” said Thomas. “Defensively, everybody’s on an island playing defense by themselves. Offensively, it’s a lot of one-on-one, no ball movement.”

“We’ve got to all play for each other a little more,” added Wade. “And we have to get out of our individual whatever we’re going through.”

Kevin Love and LeBron, however, weren’t on the same page as their coach and teammates.

“We’ve got a lot of vets on this team,” said Love. “If there are agendas, I don’t see it. But I’m sure whoever he’s speaking of or speaking to with that, he’ll address it, as we usually do.”

“I don’t [have an agenda],” added James. “At this point, three and a half, four years in this thing, I hope not. I don’t know. I don’t have one. I just want to win. I just like playing ball the right way, getting guys involved and winning the game also. I don’t.”

But … this nugget from Cleveland.com beat reporter Joe Vardon seems noteworthy:

Players have grumbled that James has slowed the ball movement, holding onto the ball until he sees an “assist” pass, rather than moving it quickly.

As does video evidence of LeBron’s defense in Thursday’s loss:

lebron berating his teammates but he just stood there on defense pic.twitter.com/8ig0M7Mcca — nbaayy (@nbaayy) January 12, 2018





lebron berating his teammates but he just stood there on defense, part 2 pic.twitter.com/RJFGd6spRr — nbaayy (@nbaayy) January 12, 2018





Over the last 10 games, the Cavs are allowing 116.8 points per 100 possessions with LeBron on the floor and are giving up a less-preposterous-but-still-very-bad 108.1 points per 100 with him on the bench. On the season, Cleveland’s defense is 7.8 points per 100 possessions better without James, and the Cavs haven’t statistically been better defensively without LeBron since he returned. And, yes, all of this may be the result of the massive offensive burden the 33-year-old point forward is carrying.

It seems ridiculous to question the effort of a player who has won three titles and accomplished as much as LeBron has, but when he’s calling out his teammates’ effort, his coach is vaguely referencing hidden “agendas,” and the locker room seems torn on what exactly everybody is talking about, it’s OK to examine how an MVP candidate is contributing to his team’s stumble in the standings.

The Cavs have dropped seven of their last 10 games, including losses to the East rival Raptors and Boston Celtics. During that stretch, LeBron has averaged 25 points (on 51.9 percent shooting), 7.1 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 combined blocks and steals — incredible numbers, even if they’re down from his season averages. His usage rate is up a tick, while his assist percentage (of teammates’ field goals he creates) and ratio (percentage of his possessions ending in assists) are both down.

None of this really suggests the ball is sticking in LeBron’s hands any more than it always has.

We could point to his one assist on Thursday — his only such game since rejoining the Cavs in 2014 and one of just 10 games in his entire career in which he’s finished with one or fewer assists. But that’s one game during a season he’s averaging a career-high 8.8 dimes per contest. It’s an anomaly.

Story continues