LeBron: Sure, I'd be open to playing for Cleveland again

LeBron James would be open to returning to Cleveland and playing for the Cavaliers, the same team whose fans were shown burning his jersey after his one-hour "Decision" on ESPN.

"If there was an opportunity for me to return, and [Cavaliers] fans welcome me back, that'd be a great story," James told GQ's J.R. Moehringer in a feature for the September issue. Moehringer was granted access into LeBron's tightly guarded camp in the days leading up to his announcement, snagging two meetings with The King hours before he went on air, and a phone call less than a week after. And James was extremely candid in all the three interviews, opening up about everything, from his thoughts before and after "The Decision," to DanGilbert's scathing letter, to even Charles Barkley's comments about his decision.

In short, the feature reveals what most have been discovering over the past month: LeBron James (who refers to himself in the third-person) of the Miami Heat isn't the same guy many thought he was while playing with the Cavs.

Here are some other highlights from Moehringer's feature:

• James, on what he would change about his ESPN announcementif he had a chance to re-do it: "Nothing at all."

• On Cleveland fans' reaction: "Maybe the ones burning my jersey were never LeBron fans anyway."

• On why he was a Bulls fan despite growing up in Akron: "It's not far, but it is far. And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us ... So we didn't actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day."

• On Dan Gilbert and the owner's Comic Sans letter: "I don't think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: 'You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You'll get a good sense of their character.' Me and my family have seen the character of that man." He went on to say that Gilbert's post-Decision screed "made me feel more comfortable that I made the right decision."

• On Barkley, who criticized LeBron's decision for wanting to share the spotlight with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh: "Charles was probably trying to be funny. It wasn't funny to me."

• On "spoiling" his fans: "I love our fans. Cleveland fans are awesome. But I mean, even my family gets spoiled at times watching me doing things that I do, on and off the court."