Miami Heat: Would LeBron James Be Welcomed Back?

On Christmas Day, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Miami Heat. It was a dramatic matchup, the key storyline being  James’ return to take on the team that won two championships with him leading the charge.

The end result? A 101-91 victory for Miami, demonstrating an ability to win big games that has been rarely seen in this injury-depleted season.

But it was the interaction between James and former teammate Dwyane Wade that has generated significant buzz recently. Here is the video:

As per this report from CBS Sports, the statement that has NBA fans shaking their heads is around the 2:43 mark and is supposedly the following:

"Listen to this link carefully – Did LeBron say to Wade on Christmas: “Like I said, if we aren’t better this year, we’re gonna re-unite again and do some bigger and better things, alright?”"

Well, that’s certainly … interesting.

Obviously, there’s no way of knowing exactly what James was saying to Wade, although a follow-up comment from the Ohio-native, provided this explanation (via the Twitter account of Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group):

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So what is one to believe? Just over five months after declaring that he’s coming home to Cleveland, there are problems in the Cavaliers’ organization that could, according to people close to James, eventually lead to his departure. But is a return to Miami even a possibility?

From the franchise’s perspective, I’m sure that Pat Riley and the Heat front office would do whatever they could to welcome back James. He wasn’t expected to leave in the first place and their offseason was thrown for a loop following James’ departure.

While the rumored plan is that Riley is gearing up toward making a big free-agent splash in 2016, there’s no better player to acquire than James.

But how would Heat fans react? Their reaction to a tribute video of James on Christmas Day – an overwhelmingly positive one – was a far cry from how fans in Cleveland welcomed James back in 2010, when Miami faced the Cavaliers for the first time of the “Big 3” era.

The video, which showed highlights of LeBron’s successful four-year run in South Beach, and subsequent cheering evoked an emotional response from James. It’s clear that Miami fans still appreciate what Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest of the team accomplished alongside James from 2010-14.

And while there’s bound to be some people that resent how James spurned the Heat this past summer (hell, there are still people in Cleveland that haven’t gotten over what happened in 2010), I’d expect that a return, however unlikely, would be greatly appreciated.

Fans typically have short memories and winning, above else, cures all that ails you. While the chances of James ever wearing Miami’s red-and-black jersey is far from credible, there’s no denying that the AmericanAirlines Arena faithful would look past James’ recent shortcomings.

Look, there’s very little actual information or proof to warrant this kind of speculation. Then again, most people would never have imagined that James would be in a Cavaliers uniform this season, either. Ultimately, the speculation is part of the fun of being a fan.

Enjoying the possibility of another fast break that ends in a perfectly-thrown lob from Wade to James … one can always dream, can’t they?

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