LeBron James Decision: What Is Driving James to Dwyane Wade and Miami?

Today is the day that the free agent frenzy reaches its climax.

LeBron James will stand before the world on a major television outlet (ESPN) and announce who he will sign with.

On June 30 of this year, Stephen A. Smith made the bold prediction that the Miami Heat would be the next home for LeBron James.

Chris Broussard of ESPN has decided to play piggy back to this claim, as he reported yesterday that James was headed to Miami.

His claim was backed by the confirmation of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh agreeing to team up in Miami.

Shelley Smith of ESPN further backed these claims by stating that James, Wade, and Bosh had four phone conversations late last night—the last conversation being the most important.

James ended it by saying, "See you guys Friday."

To add even more fuel to the fire, Wade and Bosh have yet to ink their deals.

Can you say, "Waiting for the King"?

So in the midst of this long, and seemingly never ending storm, I had an epiphany.

What exactly is driving James to team up with a player a lot of folks consider to be better—Dwyane Wade?

Some say it's about winning titles. If that is the case, I can think of three other situations that give him a better chance at accomplishing this for a longer duration.

None of them employ a former All-Star MVP and NBA Finals MVP.

It's one of two things as far as I'm concerned.

Fear or respect, period.

The Respect Aspect

LeBron James is very aware of who and what Dwyane Wade means to the NBA and his very own career in some aspects.

James has been dealing with the fact that the No. 5 draft pick of his very own draft class won a title in only his third season.

Although James followed Wade by guiding his own team to the NBA Finals the following season, unlike Dwyane Wade, he was unable to carry his team over the hump.

Unlike Dwyane Wade, James was unable to be the best player on the floor when his team needed him most. Period.

The media has played down the brilliance of Wade over his career, but LeBron James has witnessed how great Wade is.

He witnessed Wade carry a mediocre Heat roster to a second round playoff berth as a rookie (Heat won 25 games the season before).

While he himself sat home, even though he had a better roster.

He witnessed Wade reach the Eastern Conference Finals in his second season...while he himself sat home for the second consecutive year.

James is a statistician and is on record saying he keeps up with everyone's numbers.

He knows that the career numbers for him and Wade are glaringly identical. This comes with Wade playing less minutes and in a more structured system geared towards team play.

James is aware that Wade has been the most clutch basketball player over the past seven seasons.

Dwyane Wade has 30 playoff games of shooting better than 50 percent in his previous 66 games. Of those 66 games, 25 games came with Wade being a rookie or playing on a team with no real star power.

James watched Wade dominate a Boston Celtics team this past postseason while James and his better Cavs club struggled after gaining a 2-1 series lead.

In contrast, James has only 26 such games in 71 playoff games.

James has witnessed the greatness of Wade first hand as the two have been the most exciting head-to-head matchup over the past five or six seasons.

He's aware that Wade was the best player on the 2008 Olympic team. And he saw Wade maintain that at this past All-Star Game in Dallas.

James respects what Wade does enough to realize what he can mean to his very own legacy.

Now the question remains: Does he respect Wade enough to allow the former Finals MVP to finally help him get crowned as a champion?

We shall see tonight.

The Fear Aspect

Heat fans found out in 2006 that if you give Dwyane Wade an inch, he turns it into a foot.

No one outside the Heat organization believed that Dwyane Wade would be the first player in a draft class that included LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony to win a championship.

They were the bigger names and in most NBA circles considered the better players as rookies.

That all changed in the 2004 playoffs.

James had no idea how great Wade was about to become, no one did.

But everyone had been put on notice—the 2003 draft class had more to offer than just James and Anthony.

That was confirmed the following season when Wade carried the Heat to two wins over a Kobe Bryant-led Lakers team.

Wade also would carry the Heat to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and had his team up 3-2 in the series against Detroit until a rib strain derailed the Heat's hopes of going to the NBA Finals.

LeBron James made the headlines for all his "youngest to" records, etc. Wade on the other hand was creating quite the buzz for himself while helping his team win games.

James had to be aware, but again, LeBron didn't know Wade would grow into the player he is today.

Everyone attributed the success of Wade to the arrival of Shaquille O'neal as a Heat player.

The climax for Wade being a household name had to be the 2006 Finals. This is when LeBron James most likely began to take notice Wade and fear the threat he posed to his legacy.

With Wade and Shaq, the Heat had the potential to win two or three titles. It didn't happen that way. But LeBron was put on notice as to what Dwyane Wade could do with a top 10 player as his teammate.

James can't allow any member of his draft class to finish with more titles than him.

Especially not Dwyane Wade, the one player that is often perceived as being better than him or Kobe Bryant.

Teaming up with Wade, James can stay one title back—whatever Wade wins so does James. Also being on the same team and having a larger media backing, he'd be the front runner for any success attributed to the team.

He doesn't want to run the risk of trying to beat a Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh duo. He's struggled to beat Dwyane Wade by himself over the years.

And with every other top 10 player, except Carmelo Anthony, being under contract for the next three seasons, James has to make a logical decision.

So James is facing a very difficult decision.

Does he team up with the one player that seems to fare better against top tier opponents like no other? He's fearful of what Pat Riley is building for Wade.

Does he join the one player that is either equal or greater to him in ability?

Or does he run the gamble and try to beat him?

He's fearful of how Wade winning again will affect people's view of his greatness.

James cannot afford to play the guessing game anymore. Kobe is too far out ahead and teaming up with Wade is the only thing keeping James afloat.

James knows this.

Will he succumb to his fears of not living up to high expectations or will his pride force him into a foolish outcome?

Looking Over His Shoulder

Ultimately, I believe James will react on fear instead of respect.

His respect for Wade and what he has to offer will fall short of his fear of how he believes he will be perceived by teaming up with Wade.

By making this decision, he will face probably his greatest fear—is he really better than Dwyane Wade?

It's why he tried to lure Chris Bosh away from Wade.

Guess it kind of shows what Bosh thinks of the two players.

He's been talking about wanting to play with James all offseason.

Yet when he was presented the chance, he chose Wade over James.

I'm hoping he elects to team up with Wade. It's the NBA's best shot at a true dynasty over the next half a decade and possibly even further with Bosh and James both being under 26 years of age.

Guess we'll all find out come 9:00 p.m. eastern time tonight.