“I’m coming home.”

On June 26, 2003 the Cleveland Cavaliers chose LeBron James and on July 11, 2014 James chose Cleveland.

After months of speculation, Akron native and 4-time league MVP LeBron James announced his intent to return to Cleveland in a self-written SI piece as told by Lee Jenkins released Friday a little after 12 p.m.

Throughout the free agency process, James and agent Rich Paul had been very quiet, leaving media and fans to read tea leaves, track Cavs planes, outsource sources from local bakeries, friends of friends of friends and the-like, all in an effort to fill the void and come up with some piece of evidence that might point to a James reunion with the Wine and Gold. Just four years and two days removed from “The Decision,” James returns to Northeast Ohio intent on keeping his promise to ‘bring an NBA championship to Cleveland.” A promise 12 years in the making.

From 2003 to 2010, James appeared in 548 games for the Cavaliers and his mark has been left across the Cavaliers all-time record books in games played (seventh), points (first), total rebounds (fifth), steals (first), minutes played (first), and blocks (fourth) [1]. While LeBron’s 2010 exit certainly created enemies in Cleveland, James is a man who values his legacy and knows he has an opportunity to still hold true on his promise to bring a championship to Cleveland.

Leading up to PR debacle that was The Decision, James’ last moments in a Cavaliers uniform were viewed as controversial in some respects. From an elbow injury in the 2010 Boston series and a Boston Garden crowd chanting “New York Knicks,” to the public removal of his jersey before he had even reaching the locker room, the exit wasn’t ideal for James.

James, who regularly posts ‘Just a kid from Akron’ on his social media accounts and website, values the opinions of his hometown fans and the City of Cleveland and Thursday’s decision to return to the team he once publicly walked away from on national television was clearly an effort to mend a relationship once as thick as blood.

Although his agent, business associate and friend Maverick Carter, and marketing agency LRMR have done wonders to repair his image, James’ decision to return to the Cavs is telling. James was vindicated in his decision to team up with friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh by winning two titles and heading to the NBA Finals four consecutive years.

But, yet, his time in Miami had seemingly run its course. Akron will always be his home, but it was really the perfect storm that brought LeBron back to Cleveland; not for what has become an annual off-season stay, but on a more permanent basis. While James was in Miami, back in Cleveland the Cavaliers fell off the rails.They are on their second general manager and third head coach in four years, acquired a record of 91-215, and ranked among the league’s worst on both ends of the court from a statistical point. But while the Cavs certainly had their struggles, they had an opportunity to rebuild and rebuild the traditional way through the draft and by making trades to acquire assets and young talent all in the hopes of one day reaching their dream of winning an NBA title.

So how did the Cavs – once viewed as a long shot – land themselves arguably the greatest free agent to hit the market in league history?

The tale begins win former GM Chris Grant hit a home run at the trade deadline back in March of 2011 by flipping point guard Mo Williams to the Clippers for Baron Davis (later amnestied) and their 2011 lottery pick which turned into the No.1 overall selection – used on Kyrie Irving who has gone on to become a two time All-star and the 2014 NBA All-star MVP. Also in that 2011 draft the Cavs selected Texas forward Tristan Thompson, who is represented by James’ agent Rich Paul, seemingly laying the floor plan for an ongoing rapport with Paul leading up to James’ return to Cleveland. In subsequent drafts the Cavs would add guard Dion Waiters (2012, No.4 overall), Anthony Bennett (2013 No.1 overall), and most recently Andrew Wiggins who was the top pick in this past June’s first year player draft.

While the odds were certainly improbable, the Cavs had won the draft lottery three times in four years and are armed with young talent to be used to take some miles off of James who was really tested this past season shouldering the load for Miami with Wade sidelined for 30 games and with an aging supporting cast around him. However, the smoke surrounding what is being called The Return, didn’t really develop into anything tangible until 10 a.m. on Wednesday when current Cavaliers GM David Griffin swung a three-team trade with the Nets and Celtics to clear up enough cap space to sign James to the max contract he was seeking sending guard Jarrett Jack’s $6.3 million salary and 2013 No.19 selection Sergey Karasev to the Nets and center Tyler Zeller’s $1.7 million contract to Boston in exchange for the Celtic’s $10 million trade exception as a part of the Paul Pierce trade last summer to open up $24 million in cap room.

As the Cavs were acquiring talent and assets, the Heat had slowly run its course – culminating in their loss to the San Antonio Spurs by a Finals record margin in this year’s playoffs.Wade could no longer keep up with opposing players on defense without significant rest between games, the combo of Allen/Haslem/Anderson showed their age (all 35+), and the end of the bench became thin after team president Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison amnestied sharpshooter Mike Miller the previous off-season and packaged Joel Anthony’s deal to Boston along with a 1st round pick to save money and get below the luxury and repeater taxes. Suddenly, the same management group that had pulled out all the stops to bring the Big 3 together and surround them with nice complimentary talent was no longer willing to commit financially to James and company and provide them with a good supporting cast.

It is hard to say what the tipping point was between James and the Heat organization or if it was just time for him to come home; however, it seems evident that a combination all of the before mentioned resulted in James testing the market by opting out of his contract on June 25. The decision came at a surprising time as James opted out five days before he had to decide, effectively putting Riley and the rest of the league on notice that he would entertain offers and allow teams time to put together compelling packages to possibly sway him from Miami.

For years national media pundits stuck to their guns that James would never consider leaving Miami for Cleveland and Dan Gilbert after his infamous letter made rounds the day after The Decision. Even in recent weeks opinion leaders were still slow to consider the Cavs as a viable landing spot for James even though there were plenty of signs saying otherwise along the way (as seen in my hastily made reddit thread here)- severely undervaluing his Akron roots and relationships in the process.

While there still are moves to be done with the Cavs roster, including a possible deal to be swung to bring Kevin Love to Cleveland, some would say The Return offers the sports world its’ Hollywood script for the the perfect ending to an incomparable love story. “The prodigal son returns home. To bring the city its first championship since 1964.”

You can plaster it on t-shirts, LeBron biographies…even billboards that Nike was rumored to have bought in the Greater Cleveland area for a potential Return campaign.

When the dust settled, it was Cleveland who came out on top with their pitch to James who created room for him with the Jack trade and offered longevity on James’ career with a youthful roster who can help take valuable miles, soreness off of LeBron’s basketball wheels heading into the next chapter of his career. And certainly that was a valuable selling point to James who had turned in four straight seasons without any rest between playing in four consecutive Finals, Team USA duty, and picking up the baton for Wade while Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had Wade on a resting plan for much of last season.

Meanwhile as the Cavs were making their moves and playing the waiting game, the Heat made their moves as they signed Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts in hopes to strengthen their supporting cast around the Big 3. But ultimately it was their prior commitments that did them under financially – Wade and Bosh. In the end, while Bosh and Wade would have taken pay cuts and were willing to and did opt out of millions of guaranteed dollars over the next few years, the Heat were committed to all three. The friendship of Bosh, Wade, and James was their selling point and if they had succeeded in bringing them back there was no way dollars could have been stretched to overhaul their roster.

There was no other scenario and if they had been successful in their attempt to retain the Big 3, they would have had only $8-9 million to spend on free agents to upgrade their role players. From the improbable lottery luck to cap preservation and acquiring young talent, it truly was a perfect storm for Dan Gilbert and his Cleveland Cavaliers.

Maybe in the long run, even though The Decision was something very real and very painful to Clevelanders far and wide, the city will look back on LeBron’s tenure with the Heat as a trip to college of sorts- where he spent four years coming into his own, figuring out the world and becoming a stronger player and leader in the process. But for now James will be in a Cleveland uniform for the foreseeable future and with him, a chance at redemption. Redemption for how things ended, redemption for The Decision, and redemption for the City of Cleveland and for Dan Gilbert’s letter.

At the age of 14 I got into the game of basketball because of all of the media hoopla surround one LeBron James. I wrote my first sports article on James on my grandfather’s typewriter – ink ribbon, white-out, and all.

From his gun-slinging performance in the Palace of Auburn Hills against the Pistons where he scored 25 of the team’s final 26 points, to the Air Canada Center where he dropped a Cavs record 56 points against the Raptors, LeBron is one of the greatest talents we have every seen play the game from the small forward position.

But for a guy who has seemingly done it all – MVP’s, championships, All-star selections – there is unfinished business in Cleveland for him and his second tenure in Wine and Gold is only in its infancy and only a championship .

From the start the Return was a very calculated decision for James and one he certainly and understandably took his time with. But don’t call it a comeback. James and the Cavs have done this pony dog and pony show once before and they came up short in their quest for a title.

Once again the two sides will try to bring a championship and a winning culture to Quicken Loans Arena and once again we are all witnesses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOQ7steuMY0