Four years after he bolted to Miami from Cleveland in pursuit of the N.B.A. championships that had eluded him, LeBron James is returning home.

At age 29 and with two N.B.A. titles now in his possession, James announced Friday that he would rejoin the Cavaliers, for whom he played in the first seven seasons of his storied professional career.

Vilified in Cleveland when he left for the Heat, denounced and mocked by the Cavaliers’ owner, James is likely to find that just about all is forgiven, and more, as he embarks on an effort to bring a championship to a city that has not celebrated one in any major sport in 50 years and that, in recent weeks and days, was almost comically looking for any clue at all to divine what James might be thinking.

In the end, everyone found out together when James, who grew up in nearby Akron, Ohio, and is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of his generation, made the announcement through Sports Illustrated’s website. “My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball,” he said at one point in an elaborate 952-word statement. “I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.”