Basketball fans have been patiently awaiting Lebron James’ decision for the 2014-2015 NBA season. And it’s finally here.
In a self-authored letter on SI.com, James announced to the world that he will be returning to his home team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite the poor split back in 2010.
“I was leaving something I had spent a long time creating,” says James. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d obviously do things differently, but I’d still have left. Miami, for me, has been almost like college for other kids. These past four years helped raise me into who I am.”
When James parted with the Cavs, many believed that bridge had been burned. From the falling out with the owner, Dan Gilbert, to the aggressive disapproval from the Cleveland fans, James found it “easy to say, ‘OK, I don’t want to deal with these people ever again’.
But the now older and wiser star power forward has a few more things to take into account. “I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl,” says James. “I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown…I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland.”
James was sure to make it clear that leaving his Miami “brothers for life” is not happening because of them, but because of his determination to “bring one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.”
This is not to say that he’s promising a championship immediately, but rather recognizing an opportunity to “bring a group together and help them reach a place they didn’t know they could go.”
Though, right now, the most important thing for James is getting back to work, in the city that raised him. “My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.”