The Heat's LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are about to embark on a "homecoming tour" of charity games with several other NBA stars. Unfortunately for us, "homecoming" does not mean another charity game in Florida. Instead, the four-city tour will include James's and Wade's actual hometowns of Akron and Chicago, which should be quite interesting.
Wade and James will team up with the Hornets' Chris Paul and the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony for the tour. It will also make stops in East Rutherford and New Orleans. All the stops are scheduled between December 1 and 10 (guess that means James and Wade won't be in town for Art Basel).
Chris Bosh is also expected to play all four games, and Udonis Haslem will also likely meet up with his Heat teammates.
The big question, of course, is how James will be received in Akron. The King definitely seems eager to patch up his relationship with his hometown after ditching the Cavaliers. Whether the folks of Akron are ready to kiss and make up with "the Whore of Akron" remains to be seen.
"I am really proud of the work we're doing in Akron and know what this tour means for the community," James says of the tour.
The tour will also include clinics, food drives, and educational outreach.
"We're approaching it as basketball," Wade says. "We're not doing it so people don't forget our names. We're really doing this to continue to make an impact in the communities that we go to and also to show that we love this game, we're going to continue to play it, and that this is something we all decided to do together. So that's what makes this special."
Wade, James, and Bosh had already organized a previous charity game in Miami on FIU's campus, so it's understandable why the agenda doesn't include another Florida stop. Still, at this point it would be nice to see our stars play in Miami again sometime soon.
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