MIAMI — There will be no return of The King.

For the second time in a dozen years, a Miami Heat waiting game on LeBron James in NBA free agency has resulted in the All-Star forward opting to head elsewhere, in this latest case to the Philadelphia 76ers.

While not nearly as dramatic or as impactful as his 2014 move, when he left the Heat for a homecoming with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it still stands as somewhat seismic from an NBA standpoint, considering he is joining Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey on a roster as loaded as any in the Eastern Conference, if not the entire NBA.

James revealed his long-awaited decision on social media on Friday.

“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time,” James said as part of what he posted. “Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!”

But for at least this coming season, home will be in Philadelphia, alongside a talented cast that should be able to contend for an NBA title and certainly challenge the defending champion New York Knicks for Eastern Conference supremacy.

“I thought I was done when the season ended. I wasn’t ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game,” James said in his post. “I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.

“The last few weeks have really been special. I’ve never been able to have no clue what to do and take real time to just think. I’ve had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out.”

So there will be no Miami, because James said there will be no more.

“This is my last decision,” he said. “I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning.”

Unlike in 2014, when he went to the Cavaliers after four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals with the Heat, the Heat were merely a speculative player in this latest LeBron process.

As he made clear, the move to the 76ers was not about money, with the Heat having more to offer. Instead, James agreed to take the minimum salary, to earn $3.9 million this season, with a player option for $4.1 million next season. With a potential of their mid-level exception available, the Heat could have offered about $8 million this season.

In the wake of James last month announcing he would not return to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he spent the past eight seasons, the Heat had been listed by agent Rich Paul as a potential landing spot for his client, along with several other potential landing spots. Heat president Pat Riley was among several NBA executives eagerly awaiting James’ decision.

Ultimately, at 41, the native of Akron, Ohio, decided neither the Heat nor the Cavaliers were the best fit.

So this time no Big Three of sorts for LeBron in Miami — as he had with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh when they joined together in 2010 free agency — this time bypassing the opportunity to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.

After joining the Heat in 2010, James then went on to help guide the Heat to NBA championships in 2012 and ’13.

A dozen years after a departure that initially had him at odds with Riley, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer again flirted with the Heat.

For Riley, it would have been another greatest hit in a career of blockbuster moves, just last month completing the blockbuster trade that delivered Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks.

The latest James relocation comes in light of the Lakers’ decision to reload their roster around Luka Doncic.

That had James canvassing potential landing spots, including the return to his hometown to play for the Cavaliers and a potential pairing with Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors.

All the while, an open invitation remained with the Heat.

After the acrimony subsided, after the Heat reality hit home during that 2014 offseason that James was going to return to the Cavaliers to attempt to win a championship in Cleveland as he had done twice in Miami,  Riley, in an interview with Miami media personality Dan Le Batard, took a far more conciliatory tone.

“I would leave the key under the doormat if he would call me,” Riley said. “LeBron is one of the greatest of all time — four years in the Finals, two championships with the Heat Big Three. I wish him nothing but the best, and if he ever wanted to come back, I’ll put a new shiny key under that mat.”

In the interim, in addition to leading the Cavaliers to the 2016 championship, James defeated the Heat with the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals.

Since then, there had been embraces between James and members of the Heat front office, coaching staff and players.

That included working with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Adebayo during Team USA’s run to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with Spoelstra an assistant coach on that staff.

Of that experience alongside James, Spoelstra said, “You just have to absolutely respect his level of competitive spirit. He’s competing against not only the entire league, but he’s competing against Father Time. He’s giving Father Time hell, he really is, and you have to respect that — that doesn’t happen by accident.”

And to appreciate Riley’s appreciation is to appreciate Riley’s famous “blender” quote about James.

“LeBron is in a class of his own. He is absolutely unique,” Riley said. “He’s Michael, he’s Magic, he’s Kobe, he’s Jerry West, he’s Bill Russell. You take all of these great, great players, and put them in a blender and mix them up, LeBron’s got something from all of them in him.”

In the end, though, no reunion, the Heat moving on without James as they did in 2014 when he returned to the Cavaliers, with James now seeking to become the first player to win championships with four franchises.