Hard to believe it’s been a decade since “The Decision”, the prime time special where LeBron James announced where he would play the next phase of his career took place. Ultimately, he would “take his talents to Miami Beach” and win two championships. You remember.
“The Decision” was mostly panned. Many considered it ego driven and insensitive to the Cleveland community LeBron was leaving.
I disagreed. And I’m happy to see ESPN take a second look at it.
People forget the millions this program raised for charity. They forget how it was part of making the entire of business of basketball more satisfying to an audience. They forget that the Cleveland ownership wasn’t among the nicest of the league (remember that letter).
They forget a lot.
Finally, all of us continue to forget that LeBron James is still the true prototype for the coast to coast, super-hype, 24/7 social media spotlight career. We’re fortunate that he has been strong enough to deal with it all. There are many that might not have been.
So, let’s take a second look at “The Decision”. It doesn’t have to change everything.
It doesn’t have to change that the Heat were still despised (and great).
It doesn’t have to change that MJ is still the goat.
It doesn’t have to change that LeBron returned to Cleveland and won a championship.
And it doesn’t have to change that a decade later LeBron is still doing great things for basketball and the community around him.