​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.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementActually 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, and an embrace with Heat president Pat Riley this past season when the Lakers unveiled a Riley statue in from 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.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJames 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.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter 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.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement— 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