LeBron saves America

Well. At least now Magic Johnson won't have to quit.

And so here's a decorative fruit basket for you, LeBron James, from Earvin Johnson himself. He said he'd step down if he didn't land a splashy free agent, and you were the splashiest there was. I know this because I'm still soaking wet from all the splashing that went on over the weekend from every 24/7 sports outlet in America, which insisted on repeating the same speculation over and over and over ... and over.

The story hadn't advanced, but that didn't stop the yapping poodles on ESPN and everywhere else. It was all LeBron, all the damn time.

In which case, here's another decorative fruit basket from America, LeBron, for being so considerate as to take just two days to decide you were hitching your wagon to the Lakers. You could have dragged this out and compelled us to insert knitting needles in our eyeballs. But you made Decision II (III?) in a most timely fashion, sparing us that unhappy occurrence.

You also proved, by signing with the Lakers, that what you'd been saying about your decision wasn't just the usual flapping of the gums.

When asked, after all, LeBron said this wouldn't entirely be a basketball decision, and clearly it wasn't. This is no juggernaut he's joining. It's a young team with some nice pieces, but it won only 35 games last year, and even with LeBron -- and absent the Lakers reeling in Kawhi Leonard, too -- it figures to be no better than third in the West right now. And maybe not even that.

And so no real uproar about betrayal (please) and lack of loyalty (double "please") and ring-chasing this time around, from Cleveland or anywhere else. LeBron, after all, did what no one does -- come back to Cleveland -- and did what he pledged to do, which is bring a title to his quasi-hometown. He took the Cavaliers to four NBA Finals in four years and, this last time, did it largely on his own. Not much was going to change about that -- except with his kids, who were getting older, and in particular his son, a rising basketball star in his own right who was going to be entering high school.

If you're going to make a move, and it's not just about basketball, that's when you make a move. And so he did.

Simple as that. And blessedly quick.