King's Court

By Justin Worsley

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the NBA's version of the New York Yankees.

Miami Heat president Pat Riley pulled off all the stops to land the one King James and in the end he won over LeBron James' former home, Cleveland, as well as Los Angeles, New York, New Jersey and Chicago.

James, who has won the last two NBA MVP titles, made it official he will be wearing black and red next season on an ESPN special properly titled "The Decision." James simply felt it was his best opportunity to win the coveted NBA Championship, joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the process.

Wade, who has spent his entire career in Miami, seems to be the true puppeteer behind this operation, setting up a lunch prior to the free agency period with James and Bosh to discuss their free agent plans and strategy. In the end, all three forces gravitated towards South Florida where both Wade and Bosh agreed to take a pay cut in order for James to join. Currently, none of the contracts have been reported.

James, 25, has spent his entire career in Cleveland and has lived in Akron most of his life. The difficult decision to leave Cleveland cause a rift of anger amongst fans in the area. After his decision was announced, Cleveland fans were shown on ESPN burning the jersey of their former favorite NBA player, trying to show James exactly what they feel he did to them, betraying a city and team that made him the poster-boy of the NBA.

For the first time in his career, James will be an enemy. James, who averages 29.7 points per game last season along with a career-high 8.6 assists per game. One of the most beloved athletes in the NBA by not only Cleveland fans, but even rivals such as Boston and Orlando, James has made many enemies and essentially opened up Pandora's Box by deciding to become a free agent.

The Miami Heat have also by default become one of the most hated teams in the league, but it won't keep people form watching them. Many speculate that James, Wade and Bosh all decided on this fate in the 2008 Olympics, where the trio were teammates along with the past five All-Star games. Regardless it can be simply seen that the Miami Heat have bought themselves a championship ring but of course, the games have to be played before that is decided.

Another question is, how well can the three play together? Many superstar teams tend to break apart due to the amount of egotism also presented, but other fall short due to a lack of a good supporting cast. Both cases can be prevalent here.

It was safe to say James wasn't going to stay in Cleveland one it was announced that "The Decision" was going to be live and on prime-time television. If James was to stay in Ohio, he most likely would have made that decision prior to his Summer camp, putting an end to the media frenzy about where he will sign.

Now that James has signed, what will ESPN discuss now?

Hey, Brett Favre hasn't officially announced his return yet.