LeBron James still ailing; Cleveland Cavaliers cut four

The Cavaliers still have the best player in the world, LeBron James, but they haven’t looked very impressive this preseason.

The National Basketball Association star appeared with first lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday to celebrate the importance of education and to challenge thousands of children in his family foundation’s program to finish college.

The First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative has already encouraged young people to pursue education beyond a high school.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is expected to play in the team’s season opener, reports Yahoo!

The Cavs have also welcomed back Tristan Thompson (holdout) and Anderson Varejao (Achilles), and have added key veterans such as Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson, and 30-year old Russian rookie Sasha Kaun. “He’s fine and he’s going to be fine”.

East vs. West: Teams from the East went 187-263 during the regular season against the West, a winning percentage of just 42 percent. He’ll be out there very soon. Thompson agreed to a five-year, $82 million extension on Thursday. The valuable rebounder held out for a long-term deal. Miami is getting a healthy Chris Bosh back and improved its bench, Atlanta won 60 games last season, Chicago still is loaded with talent though faces the annual question of Derrick Rose’s health and have a new coach in Fred Hoiberg.

“For me growing up, and a lot of kids grow up in the situation I grew up in…it wasn’t a reality, we just didn’t feel like it was possible”, James said. “Unfortunately, the business aspect of our game slowed us down a little bit”.

“It’s not guaranteed, you know, but as a franchise and as a leader of the team I’m going to get my guys ready and prepare us to compete every night”, James said. However, he did throw around some footballs with a few teammates on a field outside the facility before heading home.

LeBron James has not been medically cleared to practice because of his back and he says it’s not certain he will play in the season opener. We all saw last year how a lingering back problem hurt Kevin Love, and put James out for 2 weeks after impacting him early in the year. We’ll take it one day at a time. In Cleveland last season, a trip to the Finals was surprising to many – maybe even James himself.

IRVING UPDATE: The All-Star point guard could miss the first month – or more – as he recuperates from surgery. More teams would have had more money to offer him due to a huge rise in the salary cap, but the Cavs still could have matched any offer he received and retained his services.