LeBron James’ decision to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 sent shock waves around the league. At the time, it just seemed unfathomable that James would leave the Miami Heat, where he had experienced championship success and was playing alongside his good friend Dwyane Wade. But what may have been the most shocking about James’ decision to return to Cleveland was that Wade didn’t even know about it.
James had reportedly made up his mind before he shared a Las Vegas to Miami flight with Wade that summer. However, Wade was unaware of James’ decision because LeBron didn’t want to burden his friend.
From ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on Zach Lowe’s podcast (transcribed by Anthony Chiang of the Palm Beach Post):
“Dwyane is on the plane and Dwyane doesn’t know,” Windhorst said. “So they’re on the flight. It’s like a five hour flight from Vegas to Miami. They are on a Nike jet. Dwyane is catching a ride back to Miami. Literally on the plane, Lee Jenkins’ first draft of the story was emailed in and they’re editing the draft sitting there with Dwyane on the plane and with Dwyane not knowing.
“Lee Jenkins knew before the Cavs, he knew before Dwyane Wade.”
Why didn’t James tell his close friend?
“Of course I asked, why wouldn’t you tell Dwyane?” Windhorst said on the podcast. “If you guys are the greatest of friends, why wouldn’t you tell him? And the answer that Rich Paul gave me, I thought at first it sounded kind of fishy. But the more you think about it, the more it’s true and tells you how they thought about this. They couldn’t ask Dwyane to carry that secret. It would have been unfair to put him in that position because obviously the Heat would have expected him to tell them.”
It may sound kind of cold of James to be working on his essay right in front of Wade and simply not tell his friend about his decision. But as Windhorst points out, if Wade knew, he may have felt like he had to tell the Heat about James’ decision. And since James and Wade are such good friends, LeBron didn’t want his friend to have to deal with such a dilemma, so he just didn’t tell him.
This was a decision that has worked out quite well for James. His career has transitioned into yet another tier of greatness in Cleveland and James and Wade are still great friends. James truly knows how to excel on the basketball court and when it comes to friendships. He is a friend until the end.