Pat Riley still disappointed by LeBron James leaving Heat

As the NBA world continues to wait for LeBron James to sign, the Miami Heat are believed to be among a core group of teams in realistic contention. There are likely a couple of reasons for that.

One, Miami is a championship contender with LeBron. The Heat just traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo. They have one of the best defenders in the league and another All-Star in Bam Adebayo. Shooting is in short supply, but if you have LeBron, Giannis, Bam and Erik Spoelstra, you have a chance.

The second is the way in which LeBron broke up with the Heat the first time. Perhaps he’s interested in making things right. Remember, it was not expected that he would leave Miami after two titles and four straight Finals appearances. The prevailing belief was that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, both of whom had opted out of their contracts, would re-sign on a discount so that James could get his full max and the train would keep on rolling.

But that’s not what happened. As we know, LeBron flipped the script with an open essay in which he famously declared: “I’m coming home.” Home, of course, was Cleveland, and it was a decision that, shall we say, ruffled some pretty important feathers in Miami.

Among those ruffled was Pat Riley, who admitted in Ian Thompson’s book, “The Soul of Basketball,” that he was initially “absolutely livid” at not just LeBron’s decision to leave Miami, but also the lack of notice and respect Riley felt the Heat were given on the way out. Riley said at the time he had “two to three days of tremendous anger” after his “beautiful plan all of a sudden came crashing down.”

On Monday, Riley revisited his tumultuous breakup with LeBron during an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show, during which he reiterated how disappointed he was when LeBron left in 2014 because he felt the Heat were “looking at a dynasty.”

Riley was upfront and as articulate as he always is. He noted that he doesn’t talk with LeBron too often, but that he’s seen him on occasion over the years and “you let go of that stuff” as time moves on. He has been clear on multiple occasions, including in Thompson’s book and with Le Batard, that it was the right decision for LeBron and his family to finish what he started in Cleveland.

So that’s one part of this current decision James has to make. Perhaps James, though he clearly doesn’t have any regret about his ultimate decision to go home in 2014, has some of the same regrets as Riley in terms of the way things ended in Miami, and his relationships within that organization, city and fanbase, and maybe that is factoring into his thought process as we speak. Or maybe it isn’t. Who knows?

But either way, it’s an interesting thought exercise to imagine a scenario in which LeBron does stay in Miami in 2014. Cleveland’s championship drought almost certainly would now be at 63 years and counting. Meanwhile, would the Heat have become a dynasty?

Even one more championship in 2015 would’ve made three in five years and, as Riley noted on Monday, they had chances at other big-name players that offseason to add to their Big 3 plus Udonis Haslem. They had cap space. Kyle Lowry, Pau Gasol, Luol Deng and Vince Carter were all linked to the Heat in varying capacities.

Of course, 2014-15 was the season that Golden State’s dynasty started, and it was also the season during which the blood clot issues that ultimately ended Bosh’s career first surfaced. It’s hard to play the what-if game, but it’s entirely understandable that Riley would’ve believed, as he said in Thompson’s book, that Miami “could have won five or six championships” had LeBron stayed.

That’s probably not true. Wade’s health didn’t hold up long enough for that to happen. Bosh had the blood clots. The Warriors, especially once they signed Durant, were too great for anyone else to just rattle off multiple titles in a short span against them. Frankly, the Cavs teams that lost three of four Finals to the Warriors were better than the Heat would’ve been anyway.

But it is interesting to think about, and maybe, as we all await LeBron’s 2026 decision, it’s now factoring into his thought process. Could he go win a third championship with the Heat and fifth overall? It would get him one ring closer to Michael Jordan, and perhaps mend a few fences in the process.

Riley went on to say that once his immediate emotions wore off, he understood James’ decision to return to the Cavs after their initial breakup in 2010. Miami was Miami, but Cleveland was home. He had to make that right. And he did. He took the Cavs to four straight Finals and ended Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought with the first 3-1 comeback in Finals history over the 73-win Warriors in 2016. Now maybe it’s time to go back to a different home.