It's official: LeBron James is once again a signed, sealed and delivered member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Team general manager David Griffin made the announcement Saturday night that the four-time MVP and 10-time All-Star had signed a contract to return to the Cavs after four seasons with the Miami Heat.
Terms of the deal, including financial aspects and length of the contract, were not revealed by the team.
"We could not be happier to welcome LeBron James home," Griffin said in a statement. Yesterday, LeBron, through his essay, told us he wasn't going anywhere except Cleveland and that 'Cleveland is where he always believed he would finish his career.'
"These words and commitment put all of us, including LeBron, in the best position to build our franchise the right way and achieve the kind of goals we all know are possible. Expectations will be at the highest levels but no one should expect immediate and automatic success."
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The team's statement did not include any comments from James. But based upon the verbiage of the statement, it would appear James signed with the team before he left for Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, where he appeared Saturday for a Nike promotion and will remain for and to attend Sunday's championship game of soccer's World Cup.
"LeBron's motivation to return home is clearly fueled by the kind of emotions and ideals that we can and should embrace," Griffin said. "The contract and those details are secondary to his commitment to Northeast Ohio and the Cavaliers. It extends well beyond the boundaries of basketball and speak to his love and passion for his family, home, and our fans.
"He communicated his role and growth as a husband, father, teammate, community leader, and business person. This resonated in a special and personal way for all of us. LeBron put it well when he stated; 'In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned.' We can't wait to get started and look forward to his leadership, on and off the court, for many years to come."
James returns to the Cavaliers and picks up where he left off four years ago as the team's all-time leader in scoring (15,251 points), scoring average leader (27.8 PPG), field goals made (5,415) and attempted (11,403), free throws made (3,650) and attempted (4,917), steals (955) and minutes played (22,119).
He also is second in Cavaliers history in three-pointers made (771) and assists (3,810), third in defensive rebounds (3,183), fourth in blocks (482), fifth in total rebounds (3,861) and tied for seventh in games played (548).
The team media release listed a number of other James-specific statistics:
He's a four-time MVP (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013), two-time NBA champion (2012, 2013) and two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008, 2012). Other achievements the 6-8 forward has earned in his career include: 10-time NBA All-Star (2005-2014), two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP (2006, 2008), eight-time All-NBA First Team selection (2006, 2008-2014), two-time All-NBA Second Team selection (2005, 2007) and five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (2009-2013).
James was the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, selected by the hometown Cavs. He went on to win the NBA's Rookie of the Year Award in 2003-04.
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James has played in a combined 842 games (841 starts) with career averages of 27.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.7 steals in 39.5 minutes per game with both Cleveland and Miami. He currently holds the third-highest scoring average in NBA history, along with 37 career triple-doubles and 267 career double-doubles.
He's scored in double figures in all but eight of his games in the NBA, including scoring 20 or more points in 701 of those games. He's also scored 30 or more points in 339 games, 40 points or more in 52 games and 10 games of 50 or more.
He's also scored in double figures in 572 consecutive games, a streak that began nearly eight years ago (Jan. 6, 2007). He has also scored 2,000-plus points in nine of the last 10 NBA seasons and averaged at least 20 points per game in all 11 of his prior NBA seasons.
