Miami Heat ‘blindsided’ by LeBron James’ decision to go back to Cleveland Cavaliers

As this past week progressed it seemed everyone started to come to terms with LeBron James likely heading home to the Cleveland Cavaliers… except the Miami Heat.

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As Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald reports, the Heat had long been confident about re-signing James and were “blindsided” when LBJ informed Pat Riley and Micky Arison of his decision.

To be fair, Miami did have plenty of reasons to feel like they were going to bring back LeBron. The Heat had opened up an NBA-record $55 million in cap space after James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem all opted out of their contracts with the team. It was assumed by many that Wade and Haslem’s opting out was a sign the Heat’s Big Three were working together and planning on a return to the Heat.

Miami also drafted Shabazz Napier in the 2014 NBA Draft, who LBJ called his favorite player in the draft.

Furthermore, the Heat had the last four seasons of excellent basketball to point to and show James that Riley had the ability to put a championship-level supporting cast around him.

But at the end of the day, LeBron wanted to go home, and that seemingly trumped all the Heat did for James and all the team could do for him going forward.

LeBron announced his decision to return to the Cavaliers in a letter posted on SportsIllustrated.com and opened it speaking soley about his relationship with Ohio.

"Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son. Their passion can be overwhelming. But it drives me. I want to give them hope when I can. I want to inspire them when I can. My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now."

Riley and Co. simply might have never had a chance here.

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