A report emerged this week that said LeBron James wouldn’t hesitate to make the appropriate business decision at the end of the season, meaning that he would actually consider leaving the Cavaliers in free agency if things didn’t go as planned.

It was easy to dismiss this as pure nonsense, especially when going back and reading LeBron’s own words that were printed at the time the decision to return to Cleveland was reached.

But what if we heard James, speaking in what he clearly believes to be a private moment with a close friend and former teammate, bring up the possibility himself?

That appears to be what happened at the end of Cleveland’s Christmas Day matchup in Miami, when LeBron and Dwyane Wade embraced on the court following the Heat’s victory.

The video cuts away, but the final eight seconds or so of the audio seems to support the assertion. Fast forward to the 2:44 mark, and here’s what James seems to be saying:

“Like I said, if we aren’t better this year, we’re gonna reunite again and do some bigger and better things, alright? You already know.”

If in fact that is what James said to Wade — and it definitely sounds like it, but there’s no way to be sure — then that’s a fairly big bombshell to drop.

Now, it’s of course possible that he may not have been talking about on-court endeavors — the two remain close friends, and could be looking at potentially developing business opportunities together at some point in the future.

But if nothing else, it will further fuel the recent speculation that LeBron may not be as firmly committed to the city of Cleveland as we were led to believe last summer.

[via user yurtyybomb at r/NBA]