LeBron James just got a feed full of Cleveland pheromones thanks to Donovan Mitchell

In lighter sports news, Donovan Mitchell dropped 71 points against the Bulls on Monday night in a 145-134 overtime win. He was 22-of-34 from the floor, 7-of-15 from deep, and 20-25 from the free throw line. It was the highest individual scoring performance since Kobe Bryant’s 81, and with that, Mitchell joined only six other NBA players to break the 70-point mark in a game. The players on that short list: Devin Booker, Elgin Baylor, Kobe, Wilt Chamberlain, David Thompson, and David Robinson.

Of course, this is Cleveland sports we’re talking about here, so the Twitter-gasm that a 71 spot normally would’ve sparked was overshadowed by the horrendous, scary incident in Cincinnati. Yet, Mitchell’s heroics were not lost on everyone.

Four claps?! I don’t know what the emoji to flirting threshold is, but that’s pretty damn close. If LeBron James didn’t increasingly tweet like Magic Johnson, I’d read more into it. This begs a question, though, and that is: How thirsty did Spida’s 71 make James for a homecoming?

Kyrie Irving didn’t even have to lead the Cavs to the playoffs before LeBron was ready to pack up shop in South Beach and return home. So Cleveland sitting at 24-14 with a roster full of talented, somewhat experienced players while the Lakers crumble has to have the King’s attention.

It’s certainly better than the alternative, which is compromising his meticulously constructed pro-women persona by cozying up to free agent (and free man) Miles Bridges. LeBron is desperate for that last title — or he’s just very selective about who he throws his support behind. (Robert Sarver’s treatment of women was unacceptable, but Deshaun Watson is getting his rhythm back, and Tory Lanez “never misses.”)

I would say all kidding aside and get back to the point of this article, but the point of this article is to make fun of how many of James’ burner accounts liked tweets from the Cavs team account Monday night. While he’s been known to be liberal with the double tabs before, that was mostly limited to perfectbooties’ IG page.

At what point in this highlight reel do you think James got that pang of seeing an ex thriving online and reached out via text or DM to say, “What’s good? You’re looking healthy as always.” LeBron didn’t even have to be in Akron to be overwhelmed by the pheromones emitting from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Seeing “Mitchell scores 71” when he opened Twitter had to be so triggering.

He’s in Los Angeles, trying and failing to bend a drama-laden starlet to his will, and here’s this picturesque contender that could bring him one step closer to tying Michael Jordan. For an athlete so conscious of the narratives following him that he filmed a commercial openly battling one, you know he’s thinking, wishing, and maybe texting about a path back to Cleveland — and more importantly — relevance.