LeBron James announces return to Cleveland: 'I'm coming home'

Free working title to any film studios out there already considering a sequel to a LeBron biopic down the road: The Decision: Back to the Cleve.

LeBron James announced his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers via an exclusive essay for Sports Illustrated today.

"I always believed that I'd return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just didn't know when," James writes. "I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn't going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy... I'm coming home."

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James' free agency fueled weeks of rumors, but a return to Cleveland began to seem likely when Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert flew down to Florida last weekend. That, combined with the Cavs' subsequent cap-clearing trade on Wednesday, made today's announcement feel less like a surprise and more like the expected end to a story — and, according to James, the beginning of a new one:

"In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have," he writes. "I'm ready to accept the challenge."

Game on.