For the first time, Miami Heat president Pat Riley publicly addressed a handful of topics regarding LeBron James’ four-year tenure in South Beach and his subsequent return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in an extended interview with Ian Thomsen for the Sports Illustrated senior writer’s forthcoming book, “The Soul of Basketball: The Epic Showdown between LeBron, Kobe, Doc and Dirk that Saved the NBA.”

Here are the handful of highlights from Riley’s commentary, via ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan.

LeBron asked Riley if the ex-coach would take over for Heat’s Erik Spoelstra.

Maybe not in so many words, but that was the impression Riley got. Reports of an icy relationship between James and Spoelstra were widespread in the early days of their partnership, never more so than in 2010 when the former bumped the latter on his way into the timeout huddle.

Riley told Thomsen that he called James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh into his office the day after that bump occurred during a loss to the Dallas Mavericks that dropped their record to 9-8 a month into the 2010-11 season. The Heat president wanted to get a feel for how everyone was getting along.

“They just said, ‘We’re not feeling it,’ or something like that,” Riley told Thomsen, via MacMullan. “We talked about the typical things that we have to do, have patience and all of that stuff.

“And I remember LeBron looking at me, and he said, ‘Don’t you ever get the itch?’ I said, ‘The itch for what?’ He said, ‘The itch to coach again?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t have the itch.’ He didn’t ask any more questions, and I didn’t offer any more answers. But I know what it meant, and I always go back and wonder about what he was thinking at that time. He walked out scratching his leg like it was itching.”

Riley said the Heat trio also asked him about his interest in taking over for Spoelstra before teaming up in Miami. He was not interested. Spoelstra had coached Wade and the Heat to consecutive playoff appearances before the arrival of James and Bosh.

“Erik is a hell of a coach,” Riley told Thomsen.

Riley warned LeBron against ‘The Decision’

The Heat president told Thomsen that he warned James and his business partner, Maverick Carter, about the public relations nightmare that would ensue after James announced his decision to take “my talents to South Beach” in front of a live national TV audience on ESPN — how people might portray the move as LeBron running scared from making his own way in Cleveland to an easier path in Miami.

“And both of them, Maverick and LeBron, looked at me,” Riley said, according to MacMullan. “Like, ‘Fear? Afraid of what?’ They almost mocked me. This was a big decision. I was trying to tell them, ‘[Expletive is] going to hit the fan, man.’ ‘Afraid? Us?’ They had so much confidence in what they were doing, and they were so smart in a lot of ways.”

Riley said when it did hit the fan immediately following “The Decision”, LeBron “almost had tears in his eyes” when he arrived in Miami. That did not stop James from participating in a welcome party the next day in which he promised “not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven,” but an endless amount of championships. Riley told Thomsen he did not approve of that decision, either.

“I just think the euphoria of that moment and what all three of them had done had got to them,” Riley said, via MacMullan. “The serotonin level was going high. Some of the things that were said, I think they would take it back and be a little more humble if they could, and probably the same for us as an organization. But once it got going I was not going up on the stage to throw them off.

“How would that have been? I would have been booed out of the arena by 18,000 people.”

Riley sat deadpanned in the stands when cameras caught him after LeBron’s championship promise:

Riley believes James might have won ‘five or six championships’ if he stayed in Miami

The Heat president was not happy when he learned of James’ intention to return to Cleveland in 2014.

“I had two to three days of tremendous anger,” he told Thomsen, via MacMullan. “I was absolutely livid, which I expressed to myself and my closest friends. … My beautiful plan all of a sudden came crashing down,. That team in 10 years could have won five or six championships. But I get it. I get the whole chronicle of [LeBron’s] life.”