When LeBron James left the Miami Heat in 2014, the ripple effects weren’t just felt across the NBA landscape-they hit home for his teammates, too. Chris Bosh, one-third of the iconic Big Three alongside James and Dwyane Wade, recently opened up about how blindsided he felt by the decision. On a new episode of All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, the Hall of Famer didn’t mince words: “I took offense to it.”
Chris Bosh says he found out LeBron was leaving Miami through a text 10 minutes before it was announced 😳
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) February 13, 2026
“I thought it was BS. 10 minutes later it was everywhere. I get it but at the time I didn’t understand it. At the time I was ready to put the team back together cause we… pic.twitter.com/UjSJeuUmLy
According to Bosh, the news came via a text message-just minutes before it became public. “I thought it was BS.
Ten minutes later, it was everywhere,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t understand it.
I was ready to put the team back together. We had just lost, and we wanted to regroup so we could win.
It really didn’t go like that.”
That loss he referenced? A tough one-Miami had just fallen to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, ending a four-year run that included four straight Finals appearances and two championships.
For Bosh, the expectation was clear: reload and go again. Instead, the Big Three era came to a sudden halt.
James’ decision to return to Cleveland for a second stint was a seismic move for the league-but for Bosh, it was also personal. The emotional weight of that moment stuck with him long after the headlines faded.
“I’m a competitor,” Bosh said. “When you go back to the locker room and Bron ain’t in that chair, and everybody’s looking at you and D-Wade for that 25 points, it’s like, damn, man.
Sh*t, my knee hurts.”
That raw honesty cuts to the heart of what made that Heat trio so compelling-not just their talent, but the expectations they carried. Without LeBron, that burden got heavier, and Bosh felt it.
“I was upset. It took months to get over it.
We had to be in the same place and talk about it,” he said. “We had to get back to a mode of not rebuilding, but getting more out of ourselves-not always having that easy thing, relying on 6 to do his job.”
Meanwhile, James’ return to Cleveland sparked another dominant run-four straight Finals appearances from 2015 to 2018, capped by the Cavaliers’ unforgettable 2016 championship comeback against the 73-win Golden State Warriors. That title cemented LeBron’s legacy in Ohio, but in Miami, the post-LeBron transition was anything but smooth.
The Heat stumbled to a 37-45 record in 2014-15, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Bosh still put up strong numbers-21.1 points and 7 rebounds per game-but his season was cut short by blood clots, a serious health issue that would ultimately end his playing career.
He returned for part of the 2015-16 campaign, helping Miami reach the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 48-34 record, but recurring complications forced him off the court for good. The Heat officially waived him in 2017, and Bosh was later enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
As for LeBron, his basketball journey didn’t slow down. After his second stint in Cleveland, he took his talents to Los Angeles in 2018 and added a fourth NBA title to his résumé in 2020.
Now 40 years old and in his 23rd season, James is still producing at a high level-averaging 22 points, 7.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 50.2% from the field. His Lakers are 33-21 heading into All-Star weekend at the Intuit Dome, sitting fifth in the Western Conference.
Time has passed, and wounds have healed. Bosh acknowledged that it took real conversations between him and James to move forward from that moment in 2014.
But his reflections serve as a reminder: behind every major NBA decision, there’s a human element. For Bosh, it wasn’t just about basketball-it was about trust, chemistry, and the sudden end of something special.