In the September 2010 issue of GQ magazine, which hit the newsstands about a month after his infamous “Decision,” LeBron James was asked if he would ever come back to Cleveland and play for the Cavs. “That would be a great story,” the Chosen One responded before going on to pepper the rest of the interview with third person references, most of which either extolled LeBron’s own humility or emphasized how LeBron had spoiled everyone with LeBron’s superlative performances both on and off the court.

And now, after a tumultuous season in which James failed miserably in the NBA Finals and became the most hated player in the league, rumors are bubbling to the surface that LeBron – upset with Miami GM Pat Riley’s heavy-handed tactics in, among other things, exiling James’ knuckle-headed entourage from the Heat locker room – will sign with the Cavaliers after opting out of his contract in the summer of 2014. And what a story that will be! The Prodigal Son returning and being welcomed by tens of thousands of forgetting, forgiving and fixing-to-be-forever spoiled fans. A dry eye will be impossible to find in the ESPN studios.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas spent 12 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers before heading to the Miami Heat for one last year before officially retiring as a player. Now, the former center has returned to the team as a special assistant to general manager Chris Grant.

Ilgauskas' responsibilities will include evaluating both amateur and professional talent for the Cavs.

Speaking of his new job, Ilgauskas said:

"I always thought this would be a natural step for me after my career was over. I always felt like I had a lot to offer and I've got a lot to learn."

The 7-foot-3 Lithuanian said that he first discussed the possibility of returning to the Cavs during the NBA lockout. Before he accepted the job though, Ilgauskas said that he also talked with ex-teammate Danny Ferry, who also transitioned from the court to the front office.

The Cleveland Cavaliers backup center, Samardo Samuels, will not be playing in Toronto because he doesn't have a passport. The team said on Wednesday that Samuels didn't travel with the team and won't be in uniform tonight as the Cavs visit the Raptors to kick-off a seven game road trip.

The team did say, however, that Samuels will rejoin them on Thursday in Minnesota.

Samuels had recently tweeted that he lost his passport and is completing the proper paperwork to get a new one.

Samuels is averaging 7.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16 minutes.

About a month ago it was definitely not beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Cleveland Cavalier fans. The NBA lockout was in full force and the basketball season was on the brink of being cancelled. This would have been a disaster on many levels, not the least of which would be the economic damage done to the workers and businesses that depend on the revenue from games to help get them through these particularly tough times.

But alas, Commissioner David Stern and his plutocratic bosses – the team owners – sobered up from their drunk-with-power hard-line stance just in time to make enough minor concessions to the players union to salvage the season, which now opens on Christmas Day with approximately 12 hours of televised games featuring the league’s most high-profile teams and stars.

During a recent interview with the British newspaper, The Guardian, LeBron James says that he would not rule out a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the future and regrets the way he handled announcing his decision to leave for the Miami Heat.

The interviewer asked James: “You’ve been quoted as saying it’s not impossible you could play for Cleveland again?", to which he replied: "It’s not impossible." The interviewer followed up with, "But unlikely?", and James explained: "It’s not impossible. I still love the city. I have so many great memories of all those fans – so it’s not impossible.”

James also said that he apologizes to those that were hurt by the way he chose to announce he was leaving Cleveland to join Miami during the summer of 2010:

“There is definitely a better way I could have handled it, as far as the whole TV thing is concerned, and the same goes for the build-up to the announcement. A lot of people were hurt by it – and I definitely apologize to them. At the same time, you should never be afraid to do what you believe in.”

NBA players and adminsistrators once again failed to reach an agreement on their labor contract and now the season is in peril.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has issued the following statement:

"At a bargaining session in February 2010, Jeffrey Kessler, counsel for the union, threatened that the players would abandon the collective bargaining process and start an antitrust lawsuit against our teams if they did not get a bargaining resolution that was acceptable to them.
"In anticipation of this day, the NBA filed an unfair labor practice charge before the National Labor Relations Board asserting that, by virtue of its continued threats, the union was not bargaining in good faith. We also began a litigation in federal court in anticipation of this same bargaining tactic.
"The NBA has negotiated in good faith throughout the collective bargaining process, but -- because our revised bargaining proposal was not to its liking -- the union has decided to make good on Mr. Kessler's threat.
"There will ultimately be a new collective bargaining agreement, but the 2011-12 season is now in jeopardy."

The NBA Players Union will now go to court seeking to say the NBA has violated antitrust laws.

The Canton Charge, the Cleveland Cavaliers new squad in the NBA D-League, unveiled their uniforms today. The color scheme and design is very similar to their parent organization.

“We are excited to introduce the Charge’s new uniforms that were created to showcase the team’s pride in a bold and colorful way,” said Scott Woodruff, Charge senior vice president and COO. “While the uniforms still reflect a strong connection to the Cavaliers brand, we’re going to be very proud to carry the Canton name around the league on our away jerseys and the home gold Charge uniforms are loud and proud too!”

The Charge make their Canton debut on Friday, November 25th at 7:30 p.m. when they host the Iowa Energy. The team will play its home games at the Canton Memorial Civic Center with tickets starting at just $5.

The Canton Charge, the Cleveland Cavaliers newly created NBA Development League team, unveiled its official uniforms for the 2011-12 inaugural season. The team's exclusive home uniform will be gold, while the away uniform will be wine, and both feature styling similar to that of the Cavs' uniforms.

The Charge will make their home court debut on Friday, November 25 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center at 7:30pm when they take on the Iowa Energy, the D-League's defending league champ.

The uniforms are made by Adidas and are the flat-back mesh style, featuring deep wine and bright gold hues. The front of the gold home jersey says "Charge" on the front in wine, and the front of the wine away jersey says "Canton" in gold. On both the home and away uniforms, the Cavs primary logo appears on one side of the shorts and the stylized Canton Charge single C is on the other side.

The uniforms are currently in the production process. Fan purchase availability will be announced in November.

In early November, individual game tickets for the Charge's 2011-12 season will also go on sale. Season tickets are on sale now, with prices starting as low as $5 per seat.

Scott Woodruff, Charge senior vice president and COO, spoke about the new uniforms:

The Cleveland Cavaliers completed a deal that sent J.J. Hickson to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Omri Casspi and a protected first round draft pick next year.

“We want to thank J.J. for his hard work and contributions to the Cavaliers, both on the court and off the court in the community. This is another step in our on-going process to shape and position our team and roster for future growth and a platform for sustained success,” said Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant. “We’re excited to add a young, talented, tough-minded player like Omri, that we feel is a good fit for our team and can help improve our perimeter group, while also being able to obtain another important asset with the additional first round draft pick.”

Casspi made history in 2009 by becoming the first Israeli to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Off the court, he is known for his success as well as he dates cover model of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Bar Refaeli.

Here is a look at Casspi's highlights from the 2010-2011 season.

J.J. Hickson is headed out of Cleveland and Omri Casspi is heading in as the Cleveland Cavaliers are set to swap forwards with the Sacramento Kings. ESPN is reporting that the teams are working to get the deal done before the collective bargaining contract expires at midnight.

Hickson, a former first round draft choice in 2008, averaged nearly 14 points and 9 rebounds last season with the Cavs in 28 minutes per game.Casspi was a first round draft choice in 2009 and has averaged 9.5 points per game and 4.4 rebounds game per contest in his career.

What the Cavs lose in offense, they will gain in defense exchanging a liability on defense to a high energy defensive minded player who can also hit an outside shot.

No word on the Cavs trade exception from LeBron James depature last year. Teams with a trade exception have up to a year in which they can acquire more salary in other trades than they send away, as long as the gulf in salaries for Trade etc. are less than or equal to the difference in salary for Trade.

Update: Cavaliers will also get a protected first-round pick in the 2012 NBA Draft according to the Miami Herald.