LeBron James had this thing under control the whole time. (Bob Donnan,

The Decision — the first one, with the TV schedule and the talk of his own “talents” — rightfully left LeBron James with many negative labels.

Heartless. Tone-deaf. Self-absorbed. Graceless.

And while he has admitted regret over the way he left Cleveland the first time around, it’s all a moot point now.

Because LeBron James just completed the most brilliant long con in the history of sports.  was so well conceived that it is almost impossible to see it as anything but the masterful work of a man who read the situation and correctly manipulated it long before the rest of us could.

LeBron James is not some talented but naive prodigy possibly being driven astray by the friends he made in the streets of hardscrabble Akron. He’s not a kid who had too much come to him too soon, robbing him of the necessary development stages needed to hone a sophisticated approach to complicated business decisions.

No. He’s not the guy who fumbled it so badly the first time.

He’s an athlete-business man who just pulled off his biggest deal after years of patient scheming.

announcing the move, James referred to his time in Miami as his version of college. That fit with the nice sentimental tone of the essay, but it’s not true.

Joining the Heat put him in a larger, more basketball-focused market. Doing so under the assurance that Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade would be there meant he could reasonably expect to win a title (or two) and secure an image as a winner.

It also allowed the Cavaliers to completely rebuild. As long as James was there, Cleveland was going to be at least middle-of-the pack, but probably never good enough to really compete. It was never going to sink low enough  to get three No. 1 overall picks in four years, either.

The clearly cyclical nature of success in the NBA is a problem for the league. There’s simply not enough hope each year for enough teams. Success is a product of long-term planning and salary-cap management, not team building. That can be an unsatisfactory experience for fans.

James, though, understood that in order for Cleveland to win, he’d have to leave. If his brief exile meant a chance at rings and increased marketability, so be it.

Because in the end, the triumphant return — will be the defining moment of his career. The Cavs have some work to do to become true title favorites, but they’re clearly contenders.

James, meanwhile, is being welcomed home as a guy who just needed to see what else was out there before deciding he always knew where his heart belonged. He has accomplished the rarest of feats in 2014, when public scrutiny and media skepticism has all-but erased the idea of sports stars as human exemplars: he has managed to market himself as a great athlete and a good person who happens to be flawed but is ultimately loyal.

All this time LeBron James was writing his own story. The Decision — the awful first one — wasn’t a misstep. It was the set up for today’s resolution.