Pat Riley Shares His Thoughts On LeBron James Leaving The Miami Heat in 2014
After spending four seasons with the Miami Heat, LeBron James made the difficult decision of parting ways from the city that brought him his first two championships.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Heat team president Pat Riley said the decision took a lot of "courage."
“I thought it was the most normal thing for him to do,” Riley said during the interview. “Somewhere in your life, you have to clean up something and be able to move on. I always felt that even after he left Cleveland and came to Miami for professional reasons, he’s going to have to go back to his hometown one day, or he’s going to have a scarlet letter on him for the rest of his life.
“So that’s a pretty damn courageous thing that he did and a selfless thing to go back to Cleveland, to rebuild that team. Had he never done that, there was a possibility that he’d have a hard time being accepted there.
“He did the right thing.”
James eventually won a title with the Cavaliers in 2016, defeating the Golden State Warriors, who set the NBA record with 73 regular season wins. He later won his fourth title, leading the Los Angeles Lakers past Miami.
The full article can be read here.
Corey Holmes is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a film and television graduate from Notre Dame and has a master's degree in journalism from Morgan State. He can reached at coreyrholmes4@gmail.com or on Twitter @coreyholmes4
