Opinion

A Short Photo Essay About LeBron James For People Who Don't Like LeBron James

June 13, 201111:44 AM ET

Linda Holmes

Enlarge this image

James hugs Dwyane Wade after the game. Lynne Sladky/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Lynne Sladky/AP

James hugs Dwyane Wade after the game.

Lynne Sladky/AP

While you were watching the Tony Awards last night (...WHAT?), the Dallas Mavericks were finishing off the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA finals, sending LeBron James's talents back to South Beach without a ring.

For those who followed the hullabaloo when James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Heat — which is, in and of itself, something he had every right in the world to do — he's wound up carrying more than his fair share of criticism.

And yet.

Aaaaaaand yet, for everyone who has seen a beloved local star move on, there is something viscerally satisfying about a hugely publicized move by a very big ego not resulting in a championship. It's not necessarily right. It just is. And what you need to do is flush it out of your system efficiently so you can go back to caring about sports in the same not especially rational way you normally do: by hating the Yankees.

BUT I KID.

In the spirit of reconciliation, please enjoy these photos of LeBron James from last night that should give you a chance to point and laugh if that is your pleasure, and then you can go back to rooting for your own team. Which is really what you should be doing anyway. Unless it's the Yankees. (Last one! I promise!)

Let's go to the photos.