Remember talks of LeBron James going on a nationwide tour to be wined and dined by the teams and cities that wanted him?
Yea, not so much.
All meetings with teams will be at a neutral site, James’ right hand man Maverick Carter told ESPN’s Chris Broussard.
There are one of two truths here: Either there never was a recruiting tour planned; or there was, but as the early waves of fan backlash to how much he was enjoying being wooed reached Team LeBron, they cancelled the plan to protect his image.
You can decide for yourself which of those was real, but when teams were told there would be no recruiting tour caught them off guard.
New York had made very public its plans for celebrities to stop in, for a fine meal by a top chef, for all the glitz and glamour of New York to be laid out before LeBron. Neutral site is not good for the Knicks, who have to now just pitch the merits of their roster. Which has few merits.
Other teams will woo Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but LeBron will have to be the first domino to fall before free agency really gets rolling.