At the 2018 NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated proceedings. With their names attached to pretty much every quality veteran deemed available, the Cavaliers ultimately made deals to land three of them (George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood) as well as one not previously considered to be available (Larry Nance).

They did so to reload on their team. Struggling badly, losing 13 of 20 games and looking entirely listless in some of them, the Cavaliers as constructed seemed openly at odds with each other. The early-season run that saw them win 14 out of 15 games using LeBron James as the puppet master working the shooters around him, simply outscoring everyone, had gone. The Cavaliers quite rightly felt some addition by subtraction was needed, as well as a defensive infusion, but also just some new, hungry faces. After all, they have a season to save.

More importantly, however, they have their relationship with LeBron James to save.

LeBron James has always been somewhat pioneering in controlling his own future. While it is normal enough for rookies signing maximum value extensions to do so for the full five seasons they are eligible for, LeBron signed for only three. Partly so as to be able to get a bigger pay day due to an odd quirk that allows seven year veterans to get pay rises, but also because, as a free agent, he has control.

He still exercises this form of control. Using his now-annual free agency (brought about by regularly signing only one-year contracts), LeBron has control over his future, and is thus not tied into an unpromising situation. So when the moribund Cavaliers were dysfunctional and floundering, they had to act now, or they would likely lose LeBron.

To lose LeBron is to lose all their relevance and competitiveness. A championship window only exists in Cleveland if LeBron does. Very much into the final third of his career now, LeBron is the elder statesmen of the All-Star game. He and his brand are as popular as ever, as evidenced by him being named one of the two team captains by virtue of him being one of the two leading vote-getters. Everyone slows down eventually, though, and for as long as it has been, James is starting to do the same.

Albeit very slightly, his game has started to slip slightly.

The slip is perhaps best evident on the defensive end. James does not close out and rotate onto open shooters as often as he did, as the legs and stamina have gone, and when he does, he is a split second slower that he was too. Also gone are the chase-down blocks, the intimidating momentum-shifting plays he used to be good for about one a game of. He saves them now for only the most special of occasions.

The LeBron James of the Now is still a ridiculous combination of speed, explosion and power. But the LeBron of 2004 may have been the best pure athlete to ever play the game.

Nevertheless, this decline is marginal, and as he has progressed through his career, LeBron’s skills and IQ have only further improved. Even the most cursory look at his numbers on the season (26.5 points, 8.9 assists, 8.1 rebounds per game) show a truly dominant force is still in play here, and one the Eastern Conference has yet to better.

For a decade now, the Eastern Conference has gone through LeBron. Making seven consecutive NBA Finals appearances and eight overall, any Eastern pretender has to build their roster to counter the very real threat of James. And it is very difficult to counter an individual player threat when that player is suitably capable of playing in various different ways as required.

James is the unabashed table setter, and particularly so this year. Playing as essentially the point guard in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sense of the position, LeBron is able to play the position like a puppet master. Failing that, when the team around him is dysfunctional or otherwise misfiring, he can take over a game with his scoring. Much as the ability and speed to rotate defensively may have tapered off a bit, there is still nothing one can do trying to slow LeBron going to the rim.

To try to do so is to try and try and stop a freight train with a fishing rod. How do you build a team to stop that? Or can you only circumvent it?

Although the Cavaliers’ struggles this season have dropped them to third in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break – and, at 34-22 and 4.5 games behind the second-placed Boston Celtics, a relatively distant third – the path to victory in the Eastern Conference still goes through LeBron. The facts that Isaiah Thomas didn't fit, Kevin Love got hurt and Dwyane Wade was not the leader he was intended to be do not change that.

In overcoming the 3-1 deficit his Cavaliers faced against the historic Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals with monumental individual efforts within a shaky team context, LeBron showed he could swing a series single-handedly, however stacked it against the odds were. And on the lesser platform of the regular season, he has been doing it too. Whether or not there have been slight declines in his stamina thus far, it only truly matters if the stamina is not there come the postseason

The post-trade deadline Cavaliers are, notwithstanding usual qualifying statements about the perils of overly analysing small sample sizes, looking extremely good. The defence is slightly better, with more attempts to recover and close out even when initial traps are broken. The offence is far better, with shooters shooting and drivers attacking with rhythm, confidence and some swagger (and with an oddly rejuvenated J.R. Smith). All of this is scary to the other Eastern elites, particularly coming as it does with Kevin Love still out.

Nothing however should scare them as much as an attacking LeBron James. The Cavaliers, you can stop. But LeBron, you still cannot. Time waits for no man, except he.