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It's official: The king is coming to Miami.

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Sports fans now know which team NBA team Lebron James will play for next season.

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Hours ago, basketball's biggest star says he's leaving his hometown of Cleveland to join the Miami Heat.

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Where would Lebron James play basketball this year and beyond?

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It's a topic NBA fans had been talking about for more than a year,

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and it's a question the 25-year-old answered on American national television Thursday night.

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What's your decision?

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In this fall -- man, this is very tough -- in this fall I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. 

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For the Heat and their fans, being chosen by King James, as he's known, was like winning the lottery. 

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I had a gut feeling that he was going to come down here just because it's the logical decision.

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I mean, Miami's a great sports town, great football town, and basketball,

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obviously, by solidifying this move, it's gonna be bar none the best team in the NBA.

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In the days leading up to his decision, speculation on Lebron's destination became a cottage industry for the media.

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Some gave the advantage to Cleveland because they gave him his start,

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they could offer the most money, and he grew up nearby.

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Many said Chicago because they already had a core of young talented players for Lebron to work with,

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while others said New York, with the lure of the marketing maestros of Madison Avenue at his doorstep.

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But with Miami on the verge of signing two other stars, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh,

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he feels he's joined a team that will make him happy.

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It's about joining forces with the other two guys that I feel like I respect their game the most

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and I feel like we have a great chance of winning, and winning for multiple years.

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For the teams and their fans who were hoping Lebron would pick them, rejection was a devastating blow.

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We've supported him for seven years now, and for him to go on there and drag us through the mud,

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for seven years, and stab us in the heart, he deserves everything he gets.

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I hope he never wins anything in Miami. He is dead to me.

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Lebron's impact will be felt immediately.

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Ticket and merchandise sales will go through the roof and the team will instantly become a championship contender.

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Success doesn't come cheaply, though, and neither does James,

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but paying a king's ransom for a king of the court could prove to be worth it.

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So why is Lebron James such a big deal? The Cleveland Cavaliers' small forward's 25 years old.

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He's won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, that's what, two years in a row.

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In March, he became the youngest player in NBA history to build up 15,000 regular season points.

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He ranks number 19 on Forbes' Top 100 Celebrities list.

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He earned $14 million this year, plus $28 million in endorsements.

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He ranks third among Sports Illustrated's highest earning American athletes, but he has yet to win a championship.

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With Lebron on board, though, it is going to be a powerful Miami team next season.

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Kate Giles joins me now. So, how much money is this guy going to make?

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Well, I mean the thing is we don't actually know the exact details of the contract.

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The numbers that are being thrown out there are $99 million --

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can you believe it? -- $99 million for a five-year contract, which to you, to me, it sounds huge, doesn't it?

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So, Lebron James, it's actually a $30 million pay cut from what he could have made had he stayed at the club that he was at.

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They could have offered him $128 million for a six-year contract.

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Now what's happened basically, because he's chosen to go to Miami because he really wants to...

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as you said, he hasn't won a championship at the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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He's been there seven year, so he's choosing to go to Miami.

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He'll be joining Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, two of the NBA all-stars, as well.

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And because the NBA has this salary cap,

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basically Lebron James needs to take a little bit of a pay cut to make sure that they can afford to pay all of these big stars,

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and hopefully Miami's the place that he's gonna win a title. That's why he's gone there.

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He thinks that's the place he can do it quickest.