CHICAGO — LeBron James traveled a great distance last summer in search of companionship and camaraderie, crossing state lines and burning bridges along the way.
The journey was poetically framed as a homecoming, driven by sentiment and obligation. Yet the core mission was much more basic: To prop open a rickety window, the one with the word "Championship" engraved on the frame.
Dwyane Wade was breaking down, the Miami Heat were crumbling and the window was narrowing. And so James set off in search of new friends and allies, with nimble legs and functioning knee cartilage.