NBA legend Pat Riley says losing LeBron James was 'the right thing'
“The Decision” was undoubtedly the biggest public relations disaster of LeBron James’ career, infuriating fans in Cleveland and casting him out to be nothing more than a mercenary who gave up on his hometown squad to chase a title.
Four years later, the prodigal son returned to Cleveland, and when James and the Cavaliers won the NBA title in 2016, that story took its place as one of the greatest hometown-hero tales in the history of sports.
According to Miami Heat executive Pat Riley, who added two championships to his Hall-of-Fame resume during James’ stint in South Beach, the star “did the right thing” by coming back to Cleveland.
Riley spoke to Sports Illustrated writer Ian Thomsen for Thomsen’s new book, “The Soul of Basketball: The Epic Showdown between LeBron, Kobe, Doc and Dirk that Saved the NBA.” During their conversation, Riley talked about how his initial anger over James leaving for Cleveland gave way to acceptance and eventually even a gesture of emotional support.
“I had two to three days of tremendous anger. I was absolutely livid, which I expressed to myself and my closest friends,” Riley said, according to ESPN.
“My beautiful plan all of a sudden came crashing down,” he added. “That team in 10 years could have won five or six championships. But I get it. I get the whole chronicle of (James’) life.”
“While there may have been some carnage always left behind when he made these kinds of moves, in Cleveland and also in Miami, he did the right thing. I just finally came to accept the realization that he and his family said, ‘You’ll never, ever be accepted back in your hometown if you don’t go back to try to win a title. Otherwise someday you’ll go back there and have the scarlet letter on your back. You’ll be the greatest player in the history of mankind, but back there, nobody’s really going to accept you.'”
And in 2016, on the night of Cleveland’s Game 7 matchup against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, Riley had one very simple thing to tell his former superstar player.
“I didn’t want to send him anything that he could read before he hit the floor,” Riley said. “As soon as he hit the floor, I sent a text to him. I said, ‘Win this and be free.’
The Cavaliers won Game 7 and the title. And everyone forgot all about The Decision and instead remembered how James redeemed himself.
After that game, James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, “When I decided to leave Miami — I’m not going to name any names, I can’t do that — but there were some people that I trusted and built relationships with in those four years (who) told me I was making the biggest mistake of my career. And that s— hurt me.”
“And I know it was an emotional time that they told me that because I was leaving. They just told me it was the biggest mistake I was making in my career. And that right there was my motivation.”
Riley, for his part, says James wasn’t talking about him.
“It wasn’t me,” Riley told Thomsen. “I never said anything to him.
And as for their relationship now, Riley simply said, “Um, we can talk about that later.”
While the relationship between the two men remains cold right now, Riley’s words about James may yet lead to a thaw.
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