“I Took Offense To It”: Chris Bosh Reveals How LeBron James’ Decision to leave Miami Heat Affected Him

The Miami Heat reached the NBA finals for the first time in five years. The last time they were in the finals they had the ‘Big Three’ of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

The Big 3 had won two titles successively before their 2013-14 finals loss. After their loss, LeBron James decided to leave the Heat and joined the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Chris Bosh in a recent appearance on Matt Barnes’ and Stephen Jackson’s All the Smoke podcast was asked about how he felt when James left. Bosh said, “I thought it was bs, and about 10 mins later it was everywhere. I understand it, I get it. At the time, I didn’t understand. At the time in my mind, I was ready to put the team back together because we had just lost. So we wanted to put something back together so we could win.” 

Bosh added, “And it didn’t really go like that. I took offense to it to be honest with you at first. I was only thinking of how I felt about it… We did realize how special of a player he was. At that time, I was super competitive. I was upset. It still worked out for everybody. But I was upset. It took some time to get over it. It took months to get over it.”

LeBron James after his departure from the Miami Heat

‘The King’ joined his hometown side of the Cleveland Cavaliers. As soon as he came to the Cavs, the team instantly became title contenders. The front office added Kevin Love to form the Cavs’ big three of Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Kevin Love.

The Cavaliers became the best in the East. They faced the Golden State Warriors without Irving and Love. The King single-handedly won the Cavs two games against the Warriors, but the Splash Brothers were too much for them.

The next season saw the King and the Cavs again reach the finals. With a fit starting 5 that had Love and Irving, things changed for the Cavaliers. They made arguably the greatest comeback in the NBA finals, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA title in seven games.

The arrival of Kevin Durant to the Warriors changed everything. The Dubs were too much to handle for the King and the Cavs. The Warriors defeated the Cavs two years successively. Without a proper support cast, the King got frustrated and joined the ‘Purple and Gold’.

The first season at the Los Angeles Lakers was disappointing, to say the least. James suffered a foot injury that kept him away for the remainder of the season. The team were on pace to make it to the playoffs, but without their star man they couldn’t do so.

The Lakers brought in Anthony Davis for 2019-20. Davis was the second star James needed. With a support cast of multiple veterans, the ‘Purple and Gold’ became the best in the West. In the finals, they faced Miami Heat, LeBron’s former team. They trounced them in six games and ‘the King’ got his fourth ring.