LeBron James seemingly had everything in South Beach except the one thing he craves most and now, again, has in spades in his native Cleveland.
Revered as he was, Miami was never going to be King James’ town in the same way it’s always been Dwyane Wade’s. Yes, longevity has its advantages and by virtue of having spent all of his 11 NBA seasons in a Heat uniform, even when the times were hard and the money could have been greater coming from other franchises, Wade held firm to build a kind of currency with Heat Lifers not even the riches brought forth by a king can now overcome.
In deciding to return to his roots four straight final appearances and back-to-back titles in, word is James may have grown tired and perhaps even envious of all the adulation still showered upon Wade during their brief reign over South Beach. On the court, James was always clearly the man and off it he and Wade were truly as close as two teammates could be.
But business is bizness when you’re striving to build out a brand and establish an unmatched legacy as James appears intent. Perhaps Wade saw the handwriting on the wall far sooner than most others, telling reporters as far back as last May of the job of convincing James to return to Miami “don’t just solely put it on me. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
And indeed there is. Like the kind of unconditional love The King has again found in mere days in his hometown. In addition, James is rumored to have been moved by the thought of raising his kids in the same land where he was once crowned and anointed as The Chosen One.
In the end, a king expects stately things. And perhaps that, more than anything else, explains why LeBron James has returned to the land from whence he came.
