No one knows what’s next for LeBron James

This was a land unmapped for LeBron James. He hadn’t been in a competitive first-round series since 2008. He’d never lost a first-round series -- and still hasn’t. His long reign atop the Eastern Conference, with seven straight bids to the NBA Finals, appears to be in peril. This is his team’s worst early showing in the playoffs ever.

The Cavaliers faced elimination on Sunday, but survived a Game 7 against the fiery, feisty Indiana Pacers. What comes next in LeBron’s legacy depends on what happens now.

It’s lost on no one that James will be a free agent in July, and rumors indicate he is again considering leaving Cleveland. It’s also lost on few that it’s possible LeBron will continue his Finals streak this year.

Such is the respect LeBron requires. Only he could helm an underperforming team stretched to the limit in the first round that everyone else still feared more than any other contender in their conference. The Raptors badly wanted the Pacers, no matter what they say. The Sixers and Celtics, set for a series beginning Monday, would have loved to see the Cavaliers gone, opening the path to the NBA Finals.

This wasn’t disrespect toward Indiana, who could have absolutely beaten Toronto and the others if things broke their way. The Raptors were the best team in the East all season, and the Sixers were strongest in the final quarter of the campaign. But the Cavaliers remain the most feared, solely because of LeBron.

So now the Cavaliers won and LeBron staved off an early elimination, despite the disappointing season and underwhelming start to the playoffs, he could remain a bogeyman if not a contender in the race for the NBA championship. He’ll certainly give Toronto collective heartburn immediately. (There is actually precedent for a team needing seven games in the first round but winning the title: the 2008 Celtics went to seven with the Hawks in Round 1 but hoisted the O’Brien six weeks later.)

Of course, if the Cavaliers lose in the next round, the take singularity will be upon us. Jordan loyalists will sing about how their G.O.A.T. could never. (MJ lost in the first round three times early in his career.) LeBron partisans will compare Kevin Love to Donyell Marshall and every other Cav with members of the Canton Charge. Gods help us if Kobestan wakes from its slumber.

We actually have some precedent for this based on the last two disappointing finishes that led into free agency. In 2010, Cleveland fell short in the second round against the Celtics, who had become something of a group of LeBron tormentors. Of course, James bailed that summer to chase titles in South Beach.

But then in 2014, the Heat suffered their most complete dismantling in the Finals at the hands of maybe the best Spurs team ever. (LeBron has actually faced three of the five best Spurs teams ever in the Finals — 2007, 2013, and 2014.) After that blowout season, as James approached a free agency no one knew whether to take seriously, LeBron decamped for Cleveland.

If the Cavaliers lost on Sunday, it would have marked a deeply disappointing finish to a deeply disappointing season as LeBron approaches a free agency no one knows whether to take seriously. The two times this has happened before, LeBron switched teams in the offseason.

They beat the Pacers, but they’re far from out of the woods in the East. Keep that in mind as the Raptors series and aftermath unfolds.

Of course, this thought experiment may have been premature. Cleveland had home-court advantage in this Game 7, and stars the best player in the conference. It is not yet certain that this season will end in disappointment for LeBron and Cavaliers, especially now that they’ve beaten the Pacers. Instead of heading into free agency with a bitter taste in his mouth, it could all be far different from what we’ve seen so far.

No one knows what’s next.

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published before Game 7 and was updated afterwards.