One of the career-defining decisions of star forward LeBron James’ illustrious NBA tenure was to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers (the team that drafted him) in free agency to sign with the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010. There, he joined forces with two other star players, guard Dwyane Wade and big man Chris Bosh, in what was a highly controversial move at the time.
Even James’ longtime agent Rich Paul (who was part of James’ circle in 2010 but wasn’t his agent at the time) admits that he wasn’t initially happy with the forward’s decision to take his talents to South Beach. He realizes that he was wrong.
Rich Paul admits he didn’t like LeBron joining the Heat in 2010 😳
“I’m the biggest LeBron critic of all critics. I did not like LeBron going to Miami. D Wade told the story. I didn’t speak to him or Chris Bosh, at all. I was furious. But I was wrong.”
(Via Game Over podcast) pic.twitter.com/OTKknpexkp
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) December 19, 2025
While James’ decision made the Heat the NBA’s villains for a good while, his choice ultimately paid off in immense amounts of collective success for Miami.
Miami reached the NBA Finals in every one of the four seasons James was there, and he helped the Heat win their second and third titles as a franchise. With their Big 3, the Heat won consecutive titles in 2012 and 2013, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in those championship series.
It’s safe to claim that the Big 3 era in Miami was the peak of Heat basketball, as two of their three titles in franchise history were earned in that four-season window.
It’s also hard to argue that James didn’t later make it up to Cavs fans for leaving. In the summer of 2014, he returned to the team he spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career with and even delivered a title to the city of Cleveland in 2016. The Cavs made a miraculous 3-1 series comeback against the Golden State Warriors in that year’s NBA Finals to win in style.
With all of that in mind, it’s easy to see why folks seemingly aren’t judging his choice to join Miami as harshly as they were 15 years ago. It’s great to see that he’s now beloved by many fans of both the Heat and Cavaliers, and hopefully there isn’t any bad blood between the two fan bases that’s lingering.