Dwyane Wade reveals why LeBron James left the Miami Heat in 2014

National Basketball Association (NBA) all-time leading scorer LeBron James spent four seasons with the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014, during which he teamed up with Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade.

James and Wade were an unstoppable duo on the court, leading the Heat to two NBA championships. However, their partnership ended in 2014 after LeBron opted out of his contract with Miami to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

At the time — and even now — there have been several theories about James’ decision to leave the Heat. Wade recently revealed the real reason behind LeBron’s departure despite their massive success, in an appearance on Pardon My Take.

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“When you are around each other for so long, and you have accomplished the things you came to accomplish, everything is not as fun as it used to be. So once you start having these little things that start adding up, that start building up, you start seeing it on a player. And I just saw, I just saw him, and I was like, ‘Oh boy,’” Wade stated.

It is well known that LeBron is extremely dedicated to his diet and fitness — but he does have a weakness for chocolate chip cookies, which he used to eat during flights between games. Heat team president Pat Riley wanted to ensure that every player was at 100 percent and reportedly banned chocolate chip cookies from the team’s menu — an action that did not sit well with James, who believed the entire team should commit to a diet together.

“I saw Bron. He was like a five-year-old kid when the cookies weren’t on that plane. He got real quiet and pushed them cards away, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’ One thing you don’t do is f**k with LeBron’s cookies. No, no, no, no, this is serious. He loves chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. He loves that,” Wade added.

While Wade spent a lot of time with James, it’s unlikely that a menu change was the real reason he left the Heat. A more plausible explanation is LeBron’s frustration after losing the 2014 NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, where Miami was thoroughly outclassed by a Tim Duncan-led team.

Most likely, James was driven by a desire to return to his roots in Cleveland — where he began his NBA career — and bring a championship to his hometown. He fulfilled that goal by leading the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals and securing the 2016 NBA championship.

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