Could LeBron James Have Handled Leaving the Miami Heat Better?

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The way the events unfolded after the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Miami Heat in the just 5 games in last season’s NBA finals, it felt like for many Miami Heat fans that LeBron James had already made up his mind about returning to home to Cleveland, bolting Miami.

Some have even pointed to the Pat Riley end of the season press conference, when Riley challenged LeBron not to bolt when there is adversity, as a sign that the Heat had a small feeling of doubt that LeBron could be headed home.

However, the Heat were plenty confident that LeBron would return to Miami, in hopes for a fifth consecutive finals appearance. Part of the reason for that optimism was LeBron gave the Heat no indication what he was planning, even though it seemed like he already knew what he wanted to do. In fact, some with the team believe that LeBron had already made up his mind when he made his cross-country trip to meet with Riley, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald:

"The Heat sees James on a court for the first time since his departure when the Heat and Cavaliers practice and play in Brazil this week. And though Miami has moved on, there are some internally who believe James should have handled his exit better by not ignoring Pat Riley’s calls and emails to him during free agency. And some suspect LeBron already had made up his mind when he had Riley travel cross-country to Las Vegas to meet with him."

That may have been a major red flag about LeBron’s intentions, but then again, LeBron didn’t give any such indication to Riley that he was parting ways when the two met in Vegas.

Riley and the Heat were approaching free agents with the mindset that LeBron was to come back, which is part of the reason Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger chose Miami.

While I have no problem with the decision LeBron made or the way he announced, I sure wish he did give the Heat a better indication of his intentions. While he didn’t scorn the Miami Heat franchise as bad as he did Cleveland when he left that franchise, the results could have been just as bad if it weren’t for Riley bringing Chris Bosh back and then signing Luol Deng soon after.