After four consecutive NBA Finals appearances with the Miami Heat that included two rings, LeBron James opted to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason, and his business partner, Maverick Carter, said James wasn't pushed to go back to Ohio.
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Carter said no one within James' inner circle tried to persuade the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player to come back to the team that drafted him.
"This was a decision that LeBron made in his heart," Carter told ESPN's Jason Whitlock on the Real Talk podcast. "We didn't push him to do it. We don't push him to do anything. If he asks our opinion or what did we think about the pros and the cons, we help him think through it. We don't push him."
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James opted out of his contract with the Heat this offseason, sparking one of the most interesting and highly speculated offseasons since James made his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami in the summer of 2010. James then told the world on July 11 that he would return to Cleveland, where he played the first seven years of his career.
"Listen," Carter said, "LeBron's a 29-year-old man with lots of money, got a wife, two kids, one on the way. He makes his own decisions. He doesn't need anyone pushing him any way, and a guy like that, you're not going to push him either way. We'll help him think through things and help him see through things, but he makes his own decision in his heart. Because, ultimately, he has to live with it. I'm not the one who has to show up and play games for any team."
Carter was also uncertain if James would have made the decision to flee Miami had he and the Heat won a third straight NBA title rather than losing to the Spurs in the finals in five games.
"Logic says how could he not," Carter said. "You've got to go for four. But who knows. The decision about Cleveland was bigger than basketball. It was in his heart."
Despite the fact that James decided to leave the team, Carter said he and James have nothing but good things to say about the team.
"The Heat run a first-class organization," Carter said. "They have one of the best organizations in all of sports. Just being around that organization, I think LeBron learned a ton about what it takes to be a championship organization and how it works."
Carter also added that James and Dwyane Wade will be "friends for life" and that James told Wade of his decision before revealing it to Sports Illustrated.
"Their friendship goes beyond basketball," Carter said. "It's bigger than basketball."
After four straight NBA Finals appearances with the Heat, James now looks to turnaround a Cavaliers franchise that went 33-49 in 2013-14, but became one of the favorites to win a title once James returned home.
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