After Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals, LeBron James revealed that he had "some other motivation that I won't talk about right now," and he promised afterward to say more if and when the Cleveland Cavaliers won a championship. The Golden State Warriors, of course, beat James' Cavaliers, so he never elaborated ... until Sunday.
Following Cleveland's 93-89 win in Game 7, James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin that his secret motivation was someone in Miami, someone he respected, telling the superstar that going to the Cavaliers was the wrong call.
"When I decided to leave Miami -- I'm not going to name any names, I can't do that -- but there were some people that I trusted and built relationships with in those four years [who] told me I was making the biggest mistake of my career," James said. "And that s--- hurt me. And I know it was an emotional time that they told me that because I was leaving. They just told me it was the biggest mistake I was making in my career. And that right there was my motivation."
So, was it a front-office executive, a coach, a player? The person most will point to is Heat president Pat Riley, who issued a classy statement upon James' departure but might have also taken a dig at James in a press conference. It would be pretty weird if it was owner Micky Arison, who tweeted his congratulations for James after the buzzer.
The manner in which James proved this doubter in Florida wrong was nothing short of incredible -- he led the Cavaliers to the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, with all-time performances in Games 5 and 6 and one of the most memorable plays of his career in the clincher. Also incredible: The fact that he ended a year's worth of speculation and replaced it with more speculation.
