LeBron James to Larry King: Cleveland has the edge

In an interview that will air Friday on CNN's Larry King Live, LeBron James had this to say when the eponymous star of that show asked him whether the Cavaliers have the edge to keep him:

"Absolutely. Because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And — and so it does have an edge."

LeBron also told Larry that his main goal is winning championships "and not just because of LeBron James," which strikes me as a bit arrogant for someone who could probably have propelled the Cavs past the Celtics if he'd played the way we've seen him play in the playoffs before.

He also said he won't try to dictate who his next coach will be, that he would love to play with either Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, and that he's humbled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for him to sign with the Knicks and President Obama's call for him to go to the Bulls. (The latter seems like an unbelievably stupid thing to say, politically. Ohio's a very important swing state that Obama probably doesn't want to take any chances with in 2012.)

All of this is very preliminary. LeBron can't do anything until July 1, and will certainly take longer than that. I hope he stays in Cleveland, and I'm inclined to think he will, but there's a long way to go before we find that out.