"LeBron James woke up at his home Thursday morning and drove north on Interstate 77 into Cleveland, walked into Quicken Loans Arena and rode the elevator up to the practice court on the fourth floor.

He shot free throws surrounded by Cavaliers logos and memories. He dunked on the same rims that hung there his rookie year while the faces and images of a previous life blurred through his mind.

With the Miami Heat set to face the Cavaliers tonight, James is back in Cleveland for a few days. In a bit of a surprise, he left open the idea of one day returning for good.

"I think it would be great. It would be fun to play in front of these fans again," James said Thursday after the Heat's practice. "I'm here as a Miami Heat 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."

The idea of James one day returning to the Cavs has been tossed around sporadically since he first broached the idea in an interview with GQ magazine in the days after he departed the Cavs in free agency.

Before that could happen, James and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert would have to mend a relationship that was destroyed by James' departure. Gilbert was irate that James left and how he chose to do it, with a one-hour television special, and retaliated with a scathing letter that was released within hours of the show airing.

While they sat in the same room together for at least one labor meeting during last summer's NBA lockout, James and Gilbert haven't spoke since July 3, 2010 — the day the Cavs met with James during his free agency meetings in downtown Cleveland. James said no attempt has been made on either side to patch the relationship but added he no longer harbors hard feelings toward Gilbert over the letter.

"He said what he said out of anger," James said. "He'd probably want to take it back, but I made a mistake, too. There's some things I want to take back as well."

When James returned to the Q as a visitor for the first time last season, he said he had no reason to apologize for his television special. He has slowly softened on that stance over the past 14 months, to the point where he now concedes that it was a mistake."