After the final horn of Miami’s Christmas Day upset of the Cleveland Cavaliers, good friends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade got together at center court and talked. With cameras running all around them. LeBron goes so far as to pull his jersey up over his mouth so people can’t lip read — like a baseball pitcher using his mitt to cover his mouth when talking to the catcher — but the cameras and mics pic up the audio. And it sure sounds like LeBron says:
“Like I said, if we aren’t better this year, we’re gonna reunite again and do some bigger and better things, alright? You already know.”
LeBron was asked about it and didn’t deny all the words, but he did deny this was a basketball comment. Via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
LeBron's full explanation of the Christmas Day video of the conversation with him and Dwyane Wade: pic.twitter.com/HWYbSc0aj2
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 31, 2014
This created a stir on the heels of a report that LeBron would consider leaving the Cavaliers if it was the right business decision.
Let’s just be clear about this — LeBron James is not leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not this coming summer, not in 2017.
After all the effort to sell his return to Cleveland as a homecoming, as a prodigal son story, to break his hometown’s heart for a second time would just be bad for business. It’s bad for his brand. His popularity would take a huge hit, he’d be enemy No. 1 again. He’s not going to do that.
He needs to focus on making Cleveland work.
Is this episode seen as a silly distraction to LeBron and Cavaliers loyalists? Sure. Welcome to having LeBron on your team. This is part of the package deal. Why don’t you ask the Heat players about the last four years? Better yet, ask Wade about it. He knows.