LAS VEGAS — So perhaps a little throwback LL Cool J if LeBron James opts for a return to the Miami Heat? As in the opening verse of Mama Said Knock You Out.

“Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years. I’m rockin’ my peers, puttin’ suckers in fear.”

Actually it has been years since LeBron last played for the Heat in 2014, but there still has been an enduring connection — at Dwyane Wade’s final game with the Heat in 2019, the opponent in the 2020 NBA Finals at the Disney bubble, an embrace with Heat President Pat Riley this past season when the Lakers unveiled a Riley statue in from the their arena in downtown Los Angeles.

And now speculation of perhaps indeed calling it a comeback, with the Heat perceived as a finalist for James’ services in the wake of his parting last month with the Lakers.

Through the Heat’s first 38 seasons, there have been 14 cases of players leaving, playing elsewhere, and then returning.

It largely has been an uneven process, although one comeback resulted in a championship, a few others in deep playoff runs, and then the emotional final chapter of closure with Wade.

James would be the 15th to return and likely would transcend them all, the first Heat player to return after winning a championship with the team (and going on to win two more elsewhere).

So, yes, if it transpires, LeBron-Heat 2.0 would be at the top of the charts, as for the others (with regular-season games of each stint in parentheses:

Dwyane Wade,  2003-2016 (855),  2017-19 (93): The parting was unexpected and shocking, with the Heat during the 2016 offseason prioritizing retaining Hassan Whiteside in free agency and the pursuit of Kevin Durant in free agency.

To their credit, Heat owner Micky Arison and Heat President Pat Riley later acknowledged Wade’s 2016 free agency could have been handled better.

After the unsettling reality of Wade in Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers jerseys, he was brought back in Feb. 2018, after his failed effort to try to make it work with LeBron in Cleveland. While the return resulted only in a single playoff-game victory, it created an emotional 2017-18 farewell tour amid an otherwise lackluster Heat season.

Alonzo Mourning, 1995-03 (407), 2004-08 (186): Despite missing the entire 2002-03 season due to kidney illness, Mourning was offended by the level of the Heat’s offer in 2003 free agency, making a hasty move to the New Jersey Nets.

By March 2005 , fences were mended and Mourning returned, a year later going on to help share in the Heat’s 2006 NBA championship.

The bond has endured since, with Mourning retiring in 2007-08 after a knee injury, now a valued member of the team’s front office.

Bruce Bowen,  1996-97 (1), 1999-01 (109): A developmental discovery in March 1997, Bowen would play only one game for the Heat that season, before leaving for a two-year free-agent contract with the Boston Celtics.

Bowen then returned in 1999 as a valued 3-and-D component, including as a playoff presence, before leaving in 2001 free agency for the San Antonio Spurs.

Eddie House,  2000-03 (169),  2010-11 (56): A quality contributor as a second-round pick in 2000 who was so popular with his streak scoring that Riley’s daughter at one point asked he father to play the guard more often, House would go on to cycle through stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and Celtics.

House then was signed back as a free agent in the 2010 offseason, after the signings of Wade, LeBron and Chris Bosh, playing as a minor contributor in that first season of the Heat’s Big Three.

Michael Beasley,  2008-10 (97), 2013-15 (79): The No. 2 pick in the  2008 draft after the Heat’s lack of lottery luck cost them a shot at Derrick Rose, Beasley first stint ended when he was dealt in the Heat’s 2010 summer of the Big Three to create cap room for the signing of Mike Miller.

Beasley then would cycle through time with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, before signing three different reunion contracts with the Heat, never able to recapture his initial Heat success.

Josh Richardson, 2015-19 (259),  2023-25 (51): The No. 40 pick by the Heat in the 2015 draft, Richardson after four productive Heat seasons was sent out to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 sign-and-trade for Jimmy Butler.

Richardson returned in 2023, but after an injury-limited second Heat tenure was sent out in the 2025 trade that also sent out Butler, with the Heat in that deal acquiring Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins and the first-round pick that turned into Kasparas Jakucionis. Richardson has not played in the NBA since.

Rafer Alston, 2003-04 (82),  2009-10 (25): A valued component amid the Heat’s playoff revival with his ballhandling and 3-point shooting,  Alston then cashed in with the Toronto Raptors during 2004 free agency.

He returned in January 2010 after a buyout from then Nets. only to then walk away from the game in March of that year, never to play in the NBA again.

Ricky Davis,  2000-01 (7), 2007-08 (82): Davis’ first Heat tenure was cut short by knee and ankle injuries, dealt at the end of that season to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the trade that brought back Chris Gatling.

Davis returned in 2007 in the housecleaning trade with the Timberwolves that sent out Antoine Walker. While Davis provided quality play in his return season, he also allowed the Heat to be bad enough to finish with the league’s worst record at second the No.2 lottery pick, then allowed to depart to the Clippers as a free agent in 2008.

Eddie Jones,  2000-05 (352), 2006-07 (35): Having provided stability during the build up to the Heat’s first championship era, Jones was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies in the August 2005 blockbuster deal that brought in 2006 championship components Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey.

A buyout from the Grizzlies then allowed for a Feb. 2007 Heat return, but by then the Heat’s championship rotation was running on fumes, with Jones leaving for the Dallas Mavericks in  2007 free agency.

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Bimbo Coles, 1990-96 (440), 2003-04 (22): Acquired in the second round of the 1990 draft, Coles was a rotation mainstay until dealt to the Warriors in the 1996 Tim Hardaway trade.

He cycled back to the Heat in 2003 free agency, but by then was not the same player.

Steve Smith, 1991-95 (189), 2004-05 (13): Another case of magic that could not be recaptured.

Draft by the Heat at No. 5 in 1991, Smith was sent out to the Atlanta Hawks along with Grant Long in the ill-fated 1994 trade for Kevin Willis.

Smith then was re-acquired from Charlotte in a Feb. 2005 trade for current Heat assistant coach Malik Allen, with a nondescript close to his NBA career that season.

Chris Gatling, 1995-96 (24), 2001-02 (54): A plus-one to the Tim Hardaway acquisition from the Golden State Warriors in Feb. 1996, Gatling left in free agency for the Mavericks six months later.

He then returned for a single-season encore in 2001, by then limited in his productivity, waived at season’s end.

Dorell Wright,  2004-10 (211),  2015-16 (5): Drafted No. 19 out of high school by the Heat in 2004, Wright mostly was reduced to benchwarmer as the Heat moved into playoff mode, allowed to depart in 2010 free agency.

He then was brought back for the 2016 playoff run, with his five appearances coming in the playoffs, in the final games of his NBA career.

Mario Chalmers,  2008-16 (525), 2021-22 (0): A mainstay at point guard during the Big Three era, Chalmers was unloaded to the Grizzlies in a 2015 salary dump.

He then returned to the Heat in Dec. 2021 on a COVID hardship contract, but never saw action.