LeBron James says recruiting other superstars to join him in Los Angeles is a big part of his job with the Lakers.
James, who admits that he doesn’t have a perfect record when it comes to getting other marquee names to join forces, has been working on his sales pitch for over a decade.
New story: LeBron James tells @Rachel__Nichols that recruiting other players to join him in L.A. is an utmost priority when it comes to seeing how far he can take the Lakers https://t.co/e4qlpjkgfp
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 25, 2018
LeBron says that, ultimately, winning is what will convince big-time free agents to consider putting on a Lakers jersey in the future.
Per ESPN:
“I’ve always recruited,” James told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in a sit-down interview that will air Christmas Day at halftime of the Lakers-Golden State Warriors game on ABC. “I’ve been trying to get guys to come play with me since, like, 2007. I’ve got rejected a lot. But I’ve also have not got rejected a lot.”
The Lakers star has admitted his shortcomings in recruiting stars in the past — James tried to get Joe Johnson, Michael Redd and Chris Bosh to join him in Cleveland during his first stint with the Cavaliers, to no avail.
“A lot of people didn’t want to come to Cleveland, let me just throw that out there,” James told Nichols. “I tried to recruit so many guys to come to Cleveland, and we actually had — I had — a couple guys and it just didn’t work out.”
James’ Lakers will face a Warriors team that came off a record-setting 73-win season in 2015-16 and was able to recruit Kevin Durant to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join Golden State, leading the Warriors to back-to-back championships.
“It wasn’t hard getting guys in Miami, I’ll tell you that,” James said, reflecting on his success with guys like Ray Allen, Mike Miller and Shane Battier when he played for the Heat. “So now that I think being in L.A., I don’t think it would be that hard to get guys here.
“But we got to win, and at the end of the day, it’s all about winning. You know, and that’s what I’m trying to do right now, is to show prospects and free agents — and at the same time, show these guys that I got right now — that we can win now, and let’s not worry about the future.”
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