Pat Riley got his highly anticipated meeting with LeBron James on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Now the question is whether the Heat president convinced the self-described King to remain in Miami, where he has won two NBA championships, or if James will head home, back to Cleveland.
According to several reports, James didn’t give Riley an answer regarding his future, with Yahoo Sports reporting the four-time MVP, who opted out of his contract and elected to become a free agent more than two weeks ago, planned to speak to his family before making a decision.
James, his agent Rich Paul, Riley, and Heat executive and salary-cap expert Andy Elisburg were at the meeting, the Associated Press reported.
James spent the first part of the day at his annual skills academy with some of the nation’s top high school and college players, interacting and observing workouts. That was part of why Riley had to fly across the country for the meeting, with hopes he would return to Miami with a huge win — keeping James in Heat colors for at least another season.
James’ agent has met with several teams during the free-agent process, but it appears James has just one decision to make: Cleveland or Miami, the same choice he pondered four years ago when he decided to play for the Heat. With James, the Heat won four Eastern Conference titles and two NBA championships.
The Cavaliers didn’t sit idly waiting for James and Riley to meet, however. Cleveland created salary-cap space with a three-team trade with the Celtics and Nets, ensuring the Cavs have enough cap room to offer James a maximum contract. Yahoo reported, citing sources, that the Cavs are also pursuing a trade for Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, contingent on James returning to Cleveland.
But James had said he would meet with Riley and the Heat before making his decision.
The meeting came nearly three weeks after Riley addressed reporters following Miami’s loss to San Antonio in the NBA Finals, when he insisted the Heat needed to make some adjustments to get better — but didn’t need a massive rebuilding job to stay at a championship level.
“You’ve got to stay together if you’ve got the guts, and you don’t find the first door and run out of it if you have an opportunity,” Riley said on June 19. “This is four years now into this era, this team, four Finals. It’s only been done three other times before. And two championships. From Day One to the end, it was like a Broadway show. Sort of ran out of steam, and we need to retool. We don’t need to rebuild. We need to retool, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
If James leaves, it will be more than a retooling project that awaits Miami.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — the other members of Miami’s Big Three of the past four seasons — are also free agents, and neither has given any hint as to what he will do, though it is expected Wade will not leave the Heat. Miami has just two players under contract for next season, one of those on a partially guaranteed deal. The Heat also have reached agreements with forwards Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger, but there are plenty of spots on the roster to be filled.
The Heat have been in a holding pattern while waiting for James to make his next decision.
Free agents can begin signing contracts on Thursday.
With AP