# Did Lebron James ever express regret for "The Decision"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-lebron-james-ever-express-regret-for-the-decision/694878>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 5, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-lebron-james-ever-express-regret-for-the-decision/694878 "2014-08-05T16:26:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-lebron-james-ever-express-regret-for-the-decision/694878/1 "2014-08-05T16:26:17Z")

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I have nothing against Lebron James and I entirely understand leaving the Cavaliers for Miami(cool he’s going back, though). However, it seemed like a massive ego trip to have a big special for an announcement. Certainly players have left teams before without having specials.

Anyway, Wikipedia says he announced no party or press conference for his return to Cleveland, but did he ever express regret or apologize fot eh ESPN special?

Was the special even his idea?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-lebron-james-ever-express-regret-for-the-decision/694878/2 "2014-08-05T16:39:49Z")

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I’ll see if I can track down a quote, but from what I remember, he’s acknowledged more than once that doing it that way was a bad idea. [Here’s one general instance.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decision_%28TV_special%29) [Here’s another.](http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/02/16/lebron-admits-he-made-a-mistake/) This is also from memory, but the concept of making it a TV special came from his management, who somehow failed to realize that leading on the fans of several teams and then jilting them was going to make people angry. The fact that he handled almost everything in the exact opposite way this time around does tell you a few things.

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**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-lebron-james-ever-express-regret-for-the-decision/694878/3 "2014-08-05T16:58:19Z")

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His letter in Sports Illlustrated said “Remember when I was sitting up there at the Boys & Girls Club in 2010? I was thinking, This is really tough. I could feel it. I was leaving something I had spent a long time creating. If I had to do it all over again, I’d obviously do things differently, but I’d still have left.”