WEARING AN IMPECCABLY tailored cream jacket, a light-blue button-down shirt and a jet-black tie with a contrasting platinum clip, LeBron James walked through the players' entrance at Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena for the first time. The day before, July 8, 2010, on The Decision broadcast, James told a national TV audience that he was taking his talents to South Beach to join fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, an announcement that left the NBA world reeling. But James was not yet officially a member of the Miami Heat.
Just inside the door and down a hallway, a contract was waiting: six years, $109.