Dwayne Wade Discusses Losing LeBron to Cleveland in 2015

The Big Three era in Miami was pretty successful. They reached the NBA Finals four times in four years, winning two championships. For most franchises, this is enough. However, for the Miami Heat in the 2010s, there was talk of not one…not two…not three….the expectations were enormous. 

When the Heat were methodically dismantled in the 2014 NBA Finals, many believed they would retool and go for redemption in 2015. Unfortunately for them, LeBron James had different plans, and he left Miami to return home to Cleveland. One year later he helped Cleveland win the first NBA championship in their franchise’s history. 

LeBron’s decision to leave Miami didn’t just shock the NBA; it shocked his own teammates. Dwayne Wade recently spoke about the free agency process in 2014 and how Pat Riley was convinced LeBron would stay. 

“I had a meeting with Riley because I was a free agent. Me and CB opted out. We were banking on retooling like ‘ok, all chips back in. Let’s opt out and see how we can get better, our goal is to win championships.’ I was around Bron and I could just tell he was dealing with something, we were really good friends and I knew something was going on. I was like ‘oh man, I think he’s going back to Cleveland.’ I remember asking Riles in the room, ‘what if he leaves? What are we going to do?’ Riley was convinced he was coming back. He didn’t even want to think about that. His whole thing was ‘nah, we’re gonna retool, we’re gonna San Antonio Spurs this thing. Many, Tony, Tim Duncan. That’s what you guys are.’ And then he left.”

Confidence is a killer. Maybe if Riley wasn’t so convinced that LeBron was coming back he would have had a better strategy to keep him. In the end LeBron was going to make his own decision and things worked out pretty well for him.