LeBron set to turn up the Heat

LeBron James will join fellow NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh at the Miami Heat.

Ending weeks of silence and drama, the two-time MVP said on his ESPN television special from Greenwich, Connecticut, on Thursday night that he will suit up for the Miami Heat and leave the Cleveland Cavaliers after an unsuccessful seven-year quest for the championship he covets.

"I can't say it was always in my plans because I never thought it was possible," James said. "But the things that the Miami Heat franchise have done, to free up cap space and be able to put themselves in a position this summer to have all three of us, it was hard to turn down. Those are two great players, two of the greatest players that we have in this game today."

Olympic teammates in Beijing, James, Bosh and Wade all helped deliver gold medals.

This time, it'll be about a gold trophy, the NBA championship one - the one Wade got in 2006, the one that James and Bosh have yet to touch.

"Winning is a huge thing for me," James said.

And for Cleveland, a city scorned for generations by some of sports' biggest let-downs, James' long-awaited words represented a defeat perhaps unlike any other.

James is gone. Home sweet home no more.

- AP