Friday (What is LeBron James thinking?) edition: Wha' Happened?

LeBron James might be earnest. He might be trying to learn from his basketball mistakes. He might be trying to patch things up with the city and state he disowned.

But he is certainly proving, once again, that if there is a wrong thing to say he will say it.

Just as Cleveland might have finally been starting to get over James' departure in 2010, he opened his mouth Thursday -- in a shootaround leading up to tonight's Heat/Cavs game in Cleveland -- to say this:

"I think it would be great, it would be fun to play in front of these fans again. I had a lot of fun times here. You can't predict the future. Hopefully you continue to stay healthy. I'm here as a Miami player and I'm happy where I am now but I don't rule that out in any sense. If I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me."

Wait, what? There are two huge things wrong with this. First off, even if LeBron is gaining some perspective and realizing the damage he did to his reputation and to Cleveland when he left for Miami in the manner he did, you don't open up this wound and tease a fan base again. Second, what kind of weird message does this send to his current team, the Heat, which clearly has championship aspirations? Maybe Miami isn't expecting him to spend the rest of his career there, but for now his focus should solely be on the team he chose to play for, not possibly returning to the one he spurned at some point in his career.

After all, we're not talking about a 37-year-old veteran with a year left to play and a shot at redemption and reunion. This is one of the best (if not the very best) NBA players, in his prime, openly talking about playing for another team.

Of course, there is also the matter of LeBron's continued lack of understanding of just how he broke a city's heart, as evidenced by his hope that fans would accept him. Again, maybe in 10 years. But still, maybe not.