The greatest burden of LeBron James' career awaits him this season

The high-energy music of rappers Eminem and Future blared throughout the visiting locker room Tuesday night at United Center, drowning out all conversations and forcing anyone seeking a quiet moment to flee, as LeBron James took his place alongside a powder blue medicine ball occupying the middle of the floor. James leaned back on the ball, then balanced his toes on it as he stretched forward. He contorted his body in awkward positions to get his troublesome lower back ready for the first game of a 13th season in which the burden to produce a title is perhaps greater than at any point in a career filled with often unrealistic or unfair expectations.

Back in a building where he ended the Bulls' season for the fourth time last May, under the shadow of Michael Jordan's six championship banners, James was set to play in front of an audience that included the team's most famous and powerful fan in President Barack Obama. And, despite nursing a back injury that has required two injections in the past 10 months, starting the season without its intended starting backcourt, a recently settled contract dispute involving the backup power forward and working in the starting power forward back in the fold after a nearly six-month hiatus, James was being asked to lead a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is the prohibitive favorite to win the Eastern Conference – and to end a 51-year championship drought for its city.

"We have to get healthy and be full to really see our potential. But we have the potential to be very good," James said hours before the Cavaliers dropped their season opener 97-95 to a highly motivated Bulls team that won in the debut of coach Fred Hoiberg.

Nothing about the loss suggested the Cavaliers wouldn't have another season that extends into June. All-star point guard Kyrie Irving was back in Cleveland still recovering from his fractured kneecap but his fill-in Mo Williams scored 19 points in his return to the organization, looking similar to the player he was five years ago, the last time he shared the court with James. Kevin Love hadn't played with James since separating his shoulder in a sweep of the Boston Celtics last May but scored 18 points and made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions late to put the Cavaliers in position to steal a victory. Tristan Thompson came off the bench to snag 12 rebounds in his first action since signing an $82 million contract last week, ending a lengthy stalemate with the organization. And after scoring 25 points with 10 rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes, James said his back "felt great" and he "had a bounce in my step."

James didn't have enough bounce to prevent Bulls center Pau Gasol from stuffing him on a potential game-tying layup with 3.6 seconds remaining. But the Cavaliers managed to make a relatively full-strength Bulls team – with the exception of a one-eyed Derrick Rose – sweat until Jimmy Butler knocked away Williams' inbounds pass to James as time expired.

"I was kind of surprised," James said of the performance, conceding that the first few weeks of the regular season won't be easy to navigate as the Cavaliers attempt to become the team many expect.

James was given somewhat of a pass last season as he attempted to establish a winning culture on a franchise that had drifted into the abyss while he salsa danced to two championships and four NBA Finals runs in Miami. The Cavaliers had the talent but lacked the experience and pedigree to win – proven by their 19-20 start, the need for two season-altering trades and James' two-week mental and physical vacation. But the success of James's ability to impart the lessons learned from his time with the Heat was found as Cleveland eventually pushed Golden State in the NBA Finals for six hard-fought games without Love and Irving for all but one game.

"When he made the decision to come back here, he was the first one to admit it would be extremely frustrating because the expectations and the process we had to take, we couldn't short cut," Cavaliers reserve James Jones said. "We know that it has to come together for us to do what we want to do, and that's all on us. We know that there are going to be some trials that come with it."

Injuries and misfortune, but not James, were to blame for coming up short against the Warriors. James' performance was so majestic that many argued he should've been named Finals MVP in defeat. But that run raised the expectations for what a full-strength squad could accomplish, to where the Cavaliers are supposed to win at a time when James seriously had to confront basketball mortality as he crossed over to the other side of 30. The culmination of those deep playoff runs and summers dedicated to USA Basketball in the quest for two Olympic gold medals, are finally beginning to show, forcing James to contemplate every means of preservation.

James is now entering a season that served as the last of Jordan's titles, the fourth of Kobe Bryant's five, and he has already logged more career minutes than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. Now James has to manage a back injury that the Cavaliers don't believe is too serious despite requiring him to receive an injection two weeks ago.

"I didn't just sit around, I actually worked a lot of things to help me stay balanced, keep me going in the right direction," he said. "I know the work that I put into it. I know how I treat my body and it responded very well."

By the time President Obama high-fived his way into the arena with about three minutes left in the first quarter and grabbed a courtside seat to watch his beloved Bulls, James had already taken his first breather of the season, pulling himself off the floor. He needed another early in the second half because, "I was gassed." Whatever pain the back is causing, James will keep to himself. But coach David Blatt stated afterward that the plan will be to limit James to around 35 minutes to keep fresh the four-time MVP for what the Cavaliers hope will be another deep run.

"LeBron, obviously, is our guy," Blatt said. "We're a team and we need to play like a team" to lighten his load.

No player is being asked to be more for his franchise, or his league, than James. He has to serve as savior for a city that hasn't won since Motown was steadily producing hits. He has to chase the unattainable ghosts of legends. And he continues to add more to his plate, with his latest, ambitious philanthropic effort to provide college educations for children in his hometown of Akron. All this while trying to fend off challengers to his status as the game's best player and carrying himself as its most trusted ambassador.

"It's a responsibility I carry, I hold it high, I understand how many kids and youth are looking up to me for inspiration and everything else. I can't let them down," James said. "A lot of people, when they hear 'responsibility,' they think it’s a negative thing, but it’s a positive thing for myself. I’ve got to continue to do it while I have this light, I believe."

James has vanquished all foes in the league's perennially inferior conference to reach the NBA Finals five consecutive years, and no team stands out as an obvious obstacle to a sixth straight trip, something not seen since the days of Bill Russell. Blatt agreed to a suggestion that the Cavaliers – the second-most expensive team in NBA history, with a payroll and luxury tax bill approaching $170 million – had some "rotten luck" in the preseason, but that hasn't changed the ultimate objective for the franchise. The Cavaliers, with the assistance of an offseason spending spree of more than $230 million from owner Dan Gilbert, know that until another team emerges as a serious threat, they are the only team standing in their way.

"We're not yet where we're going to be," Blatt said. "Without question, we're going to be a little bit choppy in the beginning, it's just the nature of what we went through. We will get there."