LeBron James will make his return to Miami for the first time on Christmas Day as the Cleveland Cavaliers prepare to face the Heat in their first matchup since the preseason. James will reunite with his former teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, for a highly anticipated Eastern Conference game. However, the basketball side of things is not what is getting the attention, but more so James' return to South Beach and how the fans will accept his return.
James made the biggest move of free agency when he announced he would be leaving the Miami Heat to return home to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many expected James to re-sign with the Heat and remain teamed up with Wade and Bosh, but he opted to take the challenge of trying to get the Cavaliers an NBA title. The fans certainly gave mixed reactions to James' exit and Wade says the forward deserves nothing but praise when he returns to AmericanAirlines Arena.
It's going to be a mixture," Wade said, via ESPN.com. "How I think he should be received is a little bit different. The man helped take us to places we've only been once before he got here. So I think he should be received very well for that at the start of the game. And then, when the game [starts], then do what you've got to do."
James helped bring back-to-back NBA titles to South beach while making four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. He also won regular season and Finals MVP twice during that run. Some fans slammed to star saying he just used Miami to get championships while others remain grateful for his time.
Wade stresses that while the media thought the breakup between the Big 3 was awkward and dramatic, everyone still remains very good friends. The guard said he could sense during the playoffs that James was leaning towards leaving Miami and heading back to Cleveland and he respected the decision.
"At the end of the day, this is a sport. And I would personally never let a sport come between the relationships I develop," Wade said. "That's just not the person I am. So LeBron's decision to go home didn't affect our relationship at (any) point. We might even talk more now than we did the first time when he wasn't my teammate. It's just because we're used to leaning on each other a little bit."
James echoed those statements saying he remains very close with both Wade and Bosh. The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently thriving since the addition of James and then Kevin Love to the lineup. The Heat have been hot and cold this season as both Wade and Bosh deal with injuries. Wade stressed that as Miami struggles to regroup since the loss of the forward, he holds no ill-will to his former teammate and excited for the big Christmas matchup.