Contrary to earlier reports, the Miami Heat has given LeBron James the go-signal to attend the retirement ceremony of old friend and former teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas on Saturday night in Cleveland, where he spent his first seven seasons in the league.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed this per ESPN.com. He told the website: "I think it's an incredible night; it was very touching that Big Z would reach out to Ronnie," Spoesltra said, referring to assistant coach Ronnie Rothstein who will also be in attendance on Saturday night. He continued: "We have the ultimate respect for Big Z and we view him as a Miami Heat guy even though he's as much of a Cleveland Cavaliers as Udonis Haslem is to us. For that one year, you could see why they view him as so special."
Reports earlier indicated that the Heat organization were unhappy about James' plan to attend the retirement ceremony especially now that the Cavaliers are expected to court him as a free agent this summer in case he opts out of his contract. This despite the tumultuous end to James' career in Cleveland when he spurned the Cavaliers to join the Heat in the summer of 2010.
James and Ilgauskas are close friends. According to ESPN, the Cavaliers 'purposely picked a date on which James' could easily travel to the game. The Heat's next match will be in Chicago on Sunday afternoon. James will reportedly charter a plane to take him to the Windy City after the ceremony in Cleveland.
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