L.A. attorney pays for 40 billboards around city to lure Paul George

Putting up billboards to lure NBA players is the rich man’s equivalent of burning a jersey. It’s pointless and pretty much passe. Most are doing this to promote their business as much or more than trying to lure players.

Enter Los Angeles personal injury attorney and Lakers fan/season ticket holder Jacob Emrani. He has paid for 40 billboards around Southern California to try and lure Paul George to the Lakers. He’s the same guy who put up billboards earlier this year to try and lure LeBron.

Attorney and Lakers season ticket holder Jacob Emrani, who put up 4 billboards recruiting LeBron in March, has paid for over 40 billboards for Paul George. There are six different designs, all have the #PG2LA with three designs including LeBron with George. Here’s one billboard: pic.twitter.com/xHoHaItlqC

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) June 25, 2018

Emrani’s comments to ESPN.

“As Lakers fans, we all thought we had Paul George in the bag, and he was 100 percent going to come and in the past few weeks when I heard people saying he might be considering [staying with the Thunder] and having second thoughts, I felt like nobody was really giving attention to Paul George,” Emrani said. “I feel like it is extremely important for Paul George to see this and see how Lakers Nation is so excited about bringing him home.""As Lakers fans, we all thought we had Paul George in the bag, and he was 100 percent going to come and in the past few weeks when I heard people saying he might be considering [staying with the Thunder] and having second thoughts, I felt like nobody was really giving attention to Paul George,” Emrani said. “I feel like it is extremely important for Paul George to see this and see how Lakers Nation is so excited about bringing him home.”

The billboards are working.

Not to lure George — his decision will be based on a combination of money, opportunity to win, lifestyle, and what is best for his family. The Lakers have their pitch ready, but his decision will be between him and those close to him. Same with LeBron James, who is not even taking pitch meetings.

But we wrote a story about Emrani and mentioned he’s an attorney, and showed a billboard with his info on it. ESPN and virtually every other major sports outlet, and a lot of other well-read and respected ones, wrote stories mentioning him as well. So it’s working — his business is getting a lot of publicity. He just gets to cloak it in Laker fandom (which plays well in Los Angeles).

Well played Jacob Emrani.