LeBron James Returning to Cleveland
Announces in essay form.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Incapable of quiet announcement, LeBron James has declared in an essay in Sports Illustrated that he will be returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron says he wrote the essay, “because I want an opportunity to explain myself uninterrupted.” So, according to LeBron, he went to Miami “because of D-Wade and CB” and that he “always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there.” LeBron claims that his return is to give athletes in Northeast Ohio somebody to look up to, writing, “This is not about the roster or the organization. I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously.” He also cautioned against heightened expectations, writing, “I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way.” And this time, he says, “I’m not having a press conference or a party.” In the end, ”I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up.”
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