Delonte West ruined basketball in Cleveland

I had about 3 or 4 conversations last May that went something like this:

“Did you hear this rumor about Lebron’s mom and Delonte West?”
“Well, there’s this rumor, that’s been substantiated by enough people, that Delonte banged, was banging or was still banging Lebron’s mom, and before game 4 of the Eastern Conference semis, Lebron found out…and also that everyone in the locker room knew about it before him”
“Wait….what? Are you serious?”
“Yeah. That’s why a locker room full of guys who seemed to have better chemistry than anyone else in the league suddenly went cold to each other around that game. It also explains why Lebron appeared distracted and distant from games 4 to 6. I think it’s pretty much the reason why they lost”
“Wow. That would really explain a lot. Is this true? Seriously? Is this on ESPN.com? Wait…what?”

Not that I need to cite a bunch of sources, but from everything I’ve read on the internet, this is all true. I mean, I read it on the internet. It HAS to be true.

Apparently, Delonte West, who was reportedly a close friend of Lebron, was having an affair with Lebron’s mom Gloria James. Lebron was the last to find out, and this killed the chemistry of the team favored to win the title, leading to the Cavs wilting before the resurgent Celtics in round 2 of the 2010 playoffs

(as an aside – I don’t really hear anyone talk about that after Lebron left Cleveland, despite the massive fallout from the citizens of Cleveland, and pundits around the league, Lebron never really mentioned how he’d miss the guys he’d played with in Cleveland – even though he won 66 and 61 games in two seasons with them, went to the finals two years before that and on and off the court, seemed to be genuinely close with them. This Delonte-gate affair obviously had a serious effect on Lebron signing with the Heat. So Cleveland – don’t just boo Bron. Take it out on Delonte. He might have banged your mom too, you never know)

I know that this is kind of a lurid story, and based on pure speculation. This is TMZ fodder, the kind of story that gets picked up by people that have nothing to do with basketball or sports. But I do not know how this is not a story! How is this not a story??? Even though it does have to do with affair with someone’s mom (by the way, the ultimate “guy” insult. It doesn’t ever matter how much better Lebron is than Delonte, how much more money he makes, how much more famous he is…Delonte can always look at Lebron and say “Yep. I had sex with your mother”. Total burn), this derailed a team in contention for a NBA championship and may have legitimately affected Lebron’s free agency decision this summer.

I can understand ESPN not reporting it because it is a scandalous, non-Disney (who owns the worldwide leader) story based on speculation and hearsay. But how does someone, just one single reporter, not just go up and ask Lebron “Hey Bron, heard this crazy rumor…”. I mean, Kim Kardashian gets a million microphones jammed in her face asking her if she’s pregnant because she had Baja Fresh for lunch and looks full. I just don’t understand how the mainstream media is not on top of this, especially in the face of how popular Lebron is and how big a story it was that he seemingly disappeared in the most important game of the season.