LeBron James Right To Leave Miami Heat For Cleveland Cavaliers: Pat Riley

Miami Heat president Pat Riley's true feelings toward the departure of LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers have finally been revealed in a new book called "The Soul of Basketball: The Epic Showdown between LeBron, Kobe, Doc and Dirk that Saved the NBA" by Ian Thompson.

Riley helped bring the 33-year-old to South Beach from Cleveland in 2010 as along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, James brought two NBA titles in a four-year spell for the franchise with many more championships expected as they reached the finals in four straight years.

However, in 2014 he made the decision to go back "home" as he departed for the Cavaliers before helping the city win a first-ever championship when they remarkably came back from 3-1 down to defeat the rampant Golden State Warriors 4-3 in the 2016 NBA Finals.

Riley has not made many public comments about James' departure since but in excerpts from the new book, he revealed he was "absolutely livid" at how his plan to make Miami a dominant franchise for many years to come had ended.

“I had two to three days of tremendous anger," Riley said, as per ESPN. "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 ten years could have won five or six championships. But I get it. I get the whole chronicle of [LeBron’s] life."

James infamously left the Cavaliers when he announced in a TV special called the "The Decision" that he would join the Heat as the city of Cleveland was left betrayed with fans burning his jersey.

And as speculation builds that James will leave the Cavaliers once again this offseason due to an opt-out in his contract, Riley admits the Akron native made the right decision to go back and make amends with his hometown fans.

"While there may have been some carnage always left behind when he made these kinds of moves, in Cleveland and also in Miami, he did the right thing," Riley added. "I just finally came to accept the realization that he and his family said, ‘You’ll never, ever be accepted back in your hometown if you don’t go back to try to win a title. Otherwise someday you’ll go back there and have the scarlet letter on your back. You’ll be the greatest player in the history of mankind, but back there, nobody’s really going to accept you.’"

Meanwhile, James is on course to play all 82 regular season games for the first time in his 15-year career after helping the Cavaliers to a 123-109 win over the New York Knicks on Monday night. But having played 81 games now, James is not bothered about the achievement.

"We'll see how tonight goes," James said before the win over the Knicks. "I've been telling you that for the last four weeks. So my mindset is focus on tonight, and if I come out healthy, I'll be available for Wednesday. That's all that matters for me."