Did we just see LeBron James’ last game in Cleveland?

With 9:15 left in fourth quarter of Game 4, LeBron James waited at the scorer’s table to check into the game. His Cavaliers were down 25, facing a 0-3 deficit against the Warriors that no team in NBA history has ever rallied to overcome. If only we knew what was going through his mind as he watched from the side.

LeBron James gave everything he had, and then some. His 15th season in the league was turned onto its head when Kyrie Irving requested a trade over the summer. The Cavaliers got what they could, but an injured all-star and a group of role players set the team off to an awful start. So Cleveland blew it up, again, at the trade deadline.

At that moment, James shifted into overdrive.

If there has been a single postseason that transcends basketball as a sport, James’s 2017-18 campaign is it. Despite falling to just the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, The King dragged a group put together on the fly through seven games against Indiana. He swept the Raptors in the second round, then pushed through seven games against Brad Stevens’ Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. James has been more than just an all-time great basketball player in these playoffs. He’s been a super hero.

But every Batman needs his Robin, every Black Panther his Okoye. James has had neither. And after the Cavaliers were swept out of the NBA Finals by a tangibly more dominant Golden State Warriors team, it’s fair to wonder if this is The King’s last game as a member of the Cavaliers.

If you had your reservations as to where James belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of basketball, this season convinced you. Full stop. LeBron is a legend. If he’s not the greatest of all-time, he’s a close second. But even legends finally meet that immovable object they never actually move. This Golden State Warriors team has been that very immovable object.

James, for example, scored 51 points in Game 1, only for the game be thrown away by an inexcusable play by you-know-who. He was an assist away from a 46-point triple-double in Game 6 against the Celtics. He basically single-handedly wiped the No. 1 seed Toronto Raptors off the face of the Earth, one fadeaway at a time.

The man is 33 years old, in his 15th NBA season, having played all 82 regular-season games, and averaging 42 minutes per game in the postseason. It’s been one of the most incredible singular seasons we’ve ever seen, reminiscent of Allen Iverson’s 2001 Philadelphia 76ers that went to the NBA Finals. But we know how that series against a goliath Lakers team went.

And after this series against the Warriors went south with 4.7 seconds left in Game 1, you couldn’t really blame him for leaving either way. Especially when you consider:

The Cavaliers have no cap space to sign free agents with this summer, and for James to return to Cleveland next season (and beyond), Cavs GM Koby Altman has to improve the roster beyond his means. That means Cleveland will have to trade the Brooklyn pick (No. 8 overall) and probably Kevin Love to get a star in return. That would also mean LeBron has to commit to re-signing in Cleveland, in advance, to assure them trading that Brooklyn pick wouldn’t be in vain.

Home is where the heart is, and James’s family does live in Cleveland. But he has homes in Los Angeles and, well, let’s be serious, who doesn’t want to live in Los Angeles? The Celtics are coming, and the 76ers are coming. If the Cavaliers can’t improve, staying in Cleveland is a slow, assured death.

James has broken records left and right. He delivered Cleveland’s first-ever NBA championship in 2016 and has kept an otherwise wallowing franchise atop the headlines ever since he returned four years ago. But after losing to this Warriors team by an 8-1 combined margin in two Finals in a row, we have to wonder if watching LeBron James check out at the 4:03 mark the fourth quarter was the last time we’d see him wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey.

If it was you in his shoes, would it be yours?