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The Decision is a name used to refer to LeBron James' 2010 free agency decision.

James became a free-agent at 12:01 am ET on July 1, 2010. He filed papers to formally change his jersey number 23 to 6 for the season. James was courted by several teams, including the Knicks, Nets, Heat, Bulls, Clippers, and his hometown Cavaliers.

On July 8, 2010, James announced on a live ESPN special, The Decision, that he would be playing for the Miami Heat for the 2010–11 season and teaming with Miami's other All-Star free agent signees Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Decision was broadcast from the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, Connecticut, and the show raised $2.5 million for the charity. The show raised an additional $3.5 million from advertisement revenue which was donated to other various charities.

In this fall...this is very tough...in this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win and to win for multiple years, and not only just to win in the regular season or just to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I want to be able to win championships. And I feel like I can compete down there.

— LeBron James

Wade had informed Heat President Pat Riley that James wanted to become less of a scorer and more of a distributor, and James looked forward to no longer carrying the offense night after night as he did playing with Cleveland. Riley sold to James that "LeBron would be Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade would be Kobe Bryant, Chris would be Kevin Garnett." Relieved of the burden of scoring, James thought he could be the first player to average a triple-double in a season since Oscar Robertson.

The Cavaliers were informed of James' decision minutes before the show began. The television program drew high ratings as well as criticism for the prolonged wait until James' actual decision and the spectacle of the show itself.

In Cleveland, fans considered James' departure a betrayal that ranks second to Art Modell's efforts to relocate the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert almost immediately published an open letter to fans, denouncing James' decision as a "selfish", "heartless", "callous", and "cowardly betrayal", while guaranteeing that the Cavs would win an NBA title before the "self-declared former King." Gilbert's sports-memorabilia company Fathead also lowered the price of wall graphics depicting James from $99.99 to $17.41, the birth year of Benedict Arnold. William Rhoden of The New York Times defended James by stating that Gilbert's "venomous, face-saving personal attack", along with the ensuing "wrath of jersey-burning fans", only validated James’ decision to leave Cleveland. Reverend Jesse Jackson, American civil rights activist, said Gilbert's feelings "personify a slave master mentality", and he was treating James as "a runaway slave". J. A. Adande of ESPN said, however, that James chose to promote the drama of his decision in an hour-long television special instead of showing "common courtesy" to notify Cleveland and other teams of his plans. On July 12, 2010, NBA Commissioner David Stern fined Gilbert $100,000 for the letter's contents, while also criticizing the way James handled free agency. On July 14, James told J. R. Moehringer for a GQ article that there was "nothing at all" he would change about his handling of free agency.

Former NBA players criticized his decision to not stay with Cleveland and continuing to try to win a championship as "the guy". Michael Jordan stated that he would not have contacted his rivals from other teams like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to play on one team together, as "I wanted to defeat those guys." Jordan added that "...things are different . I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today." Johnson echoed Jordan's sentiments on teaming with rivals.

On September 29, 2010, asked by Soledad O'Brien of CNN if race was a factor in the fallout from The Decision, James said, "I think so, at times. There's always – you know, a race factor." James had previously stayed clear of racial issues. When the earlier controversy over his cover on Vogue became a national debate, James had no comment. Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, said James suddenly bringing up race in this instance was "laughable." Jason Whitlock of Foxsports.com said James' usage of the race card was "an excuse to avoid dealing with his own bad (The) Decision." Adande, however, said James "didn't claim to be a victim of racial persecution" and "caused us to examine the bias that's always lurking".

Before a game against the Nets on October 31, his first game against one of his suitors, James reflected on his free agency: “If I had to go back on it, I probably would do it a little bit different,” James said. “But I’m happy with my decision.” He declined to be more specific.

References

1. "NBA Free Agency: Who's going where? – ESPN". ESPN. June 30, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
2. "Report: LeBron James wants No. 6, let Michael Jordan own No. 23 – ESPN". ESPN. March 2, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
3. "LeBron says he'll sign with Miami Heat". Msn.foxsports.com. August 9, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
4. "LeBron James makes his pick: He's going to Miami". NBA/Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. July 9, 2010. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
5. "LeBron James' 'Decision' generated $6 million in ad revenue". Cleveland.com. July 12, 2010. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2010/07/lebron_james_decision_generate.html" ignored (help)
6. "LeBron James' 'Decision' generated $6 million in ad revenue". Cleveland.com. July 12, 2010. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2010/07/lebron_james_decision_generate.html" ignored (help)
7. Tom D'Angelo (8 July 2010). "The King of South Beach: LeBron James will Sign with Miami Heat". The Palm Beach Post.
8. Abbot, Henry (July 8, 2010). "LeBron James' decision: the transcript". ESPN. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
9. ^ Thomsen, Ian (July 19, 2010). "The Plot Starts Here ... Showtime Starts Here". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 23, 2011. One advantage of Riley's intelligence gathering was his understanding—as relayed to him by Wade—that James wanted to become less of a scorer and more of a distributor, and that he looked forward to no longer carrying the offense night after night.
10. Jackson, Barry (July 10, 2010). "Miami Heat's Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra react to signings". The Miami Herald. Retrieved January 23, 2011. He said he told James that, ``LeBron would be Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade would be Kobe Bryant, Chris would be Kevin Garnett.
11. Wojnarowski, Adrian (July 16, 2010). "Inside look at LeBron's free-agent coup". Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. ... the issue of James' immaturity and downright disrespectfulness had become a consuming topic on the march to the Olympics
12. David Bauder (July 10, 2010). "Was LeBron special ESPN's deal with devil?". Associated Press.
13. "Cleveland Plain Dealer's final word on LeBron James". National Post. Canada. November 9, 2010. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010.
14. "Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert" (Press release). Cleveland Cavaliers. July 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
15. "Fathead suggests LeBron is the new Benedict Arnold" USA Today, July 8, 2010.
16. William Rhoden (July 9, 2010). "Cleveland's Venom Validates James's Exit". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
17. Jackson, Jesse (July 11, 2010). "Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Reacts to Dan Gilbert's Open Letter". Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave.
18. Adande, J. A. "Gilbert's letter signals wider backlash". ESPN. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
19. "Stern not a fan of 'The Decision'". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. July 12, 2010.
20. Moehringer, J.R. (September 2010). "Into the Funhouse with King James". GQ. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. During that postmortem interview, when Moehringer asked James what he'd change if he had a do-over, James replied, 'Nothing at all.'
21. Jonathan Abrams; Catherine Shipp (July 10, 2010). "Criticism Grows as James Arrives in Miami". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
22. "Jordan wouldn't have called Magic, Bird". ESPN. July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
23. Rothbard, Barry (July 20, 2010). "Magic Johnson Says He Wouldn't Have Joined Bird After LeBron James's Move". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.
24. "LeBron James says race a factor in reaction to Miami Heat announcement". CNN. September 30, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2010. Basketball star LeBron James suggested in an interview that aired Wednesday on CNN that race may have played a role in some of the negative reaction to his announcement that he would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat.
25. ^ Adande, J. A. (October 1, 2010). "LeBron James, race and the NBA". ESPN. Retrieved October 13, 2010. James managed to navigate the first seven years of his career without running into any racial reefs.
26. ^ Freeman, Mike (September 30, 2010). "Lambasted LeBron conveniently sees hurtful role of race". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. He has catered to corporate America, mostly ignored issues that affect people of color, and then when so many people turned on James, he's now suddenly seeing the racial light.
27. Whitlock, Jason (September 30, 2010). "Point the finger at yourself, LeBron". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010. LeBron's enablers are providing him the racial cocoon of denial. They're giving LeBron an excuse to avoid dealing with his own bad (The) Decision.
28. Kaplan, Thomas (November 1, 2010). "James Faces Jeering, but Little Competition". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2010. 'If I had to go back on it, I probably would do it a little bit different,' James said before the game. 'But I'm happy with my decision.' He declined to be more specific.